Singapore’s classic Toyota cabs have reached the end of the road after 32 years.
The last Toyota Crown taxis in Singapore were “chopped” in September 2014. Once the kings of the local taxi trade, only 349 units remained at the end – a far cry from the model’s heyday in 2006 when 19,000 such taxis, or eight in 10 of all cabs, plied the roads.
The made-in-Japan Crowns, known for being roomy and reliable, had been phased out because they cannot meet the Euro 4 diesel emission standards, which apply to vehicles registered after September 2006. Taxis are allowed to be used for only eight years, so the very last batch of Crowns-for-hire registered before the stricter emission rules kicked in had to be scrapped by the end of September.
The iconic cab with its distinctive boxy design was among the first Japanese models to break into Singapore’s taxi market. It first made an appearance here in 1982. According to Toyota distributor Borneo Motors, more than 32,600 Crown taxis had been sold since.
Retired car industry veteran Lee Chiu San noted that before the Crown, the taxi model of choice in the 1960s and 1970s was the British-built Morris Oxford.
“The Crown was the workhorse model for the taxi market, and taxi drivers liked its spaciousness and durability,” he said.
Cabbies still driving the Crown before it was sent to the scrapyard were sad to see it go. Said SMRT cabby Chua Kiang Wee, 58, who had driven two Crowns since 2000: “Some wear and tear is normal, but the Crowns have never broken down on me.”
Premier cabby Tan Ah Kee, 65, who had been driving the model faithfully for most of his 20-year career, commented: “The boot was big enough for four medium-sized pieces of luggage.”
Trans-Cab driver John Wong’s Crown had covered more than 1.45 million kilometres in eight years. “It must have gone all over Singapore many, many times,” reckoned the 68-year-old.
The highest mileage clocked by a Crown in Singapore was an SMRT cab that travelled more than two million kilometres – the equivalent of going round the Earth more than 50 times.
The Crown’s demise also means the end of the era when a single model dominated the taxi market. There are now at least 20 different taxi models plying the roads.
Singapore’s classic Toyota cabs have reached the end of the road after 32 years.
