London's iconic cabs will soon be picking up fares on the streets of China, costing half as much as they do back home.

Geely Automobile Holdings, the Chinese company which bought British manufacturer Manganese Bronze in 2006, plans to sell the firm's taxicabs in China in 2008 and begin exporting the vehicle to Asia and beyond soon afterwards.

Ambitious Geely, which makes no secret of its eventual plans to expand globally, may start its export drive with Hong Kong - bringing a common London sight to the former British colony more than a decade after it reverted to Chinese rule.

"We estimate the production cost can be lowered at least by half," Mr Geely executive director Lawrence Ang told reporters on Monday after showing the firms' newest London cab to pre-selected Hong Kong taxi drivers.

Prices had not been finalised but Mr Ang said British-made models sold at nearly £40,000. Mr Geely and Manganese have set up a joint venture in Shanghai that can crank out 10,000 cabs a year in about a dozen colours apart from the familiar black, tailored to specific markets and customer demand, and another 30,000 intended for private limousine or sedan use.

It will eventually serve as a global base for production and export to southeast Asia and, eventually, other regions.

Manganese's UK production arm, London Taxi International (LTI), sold about 2,850 taxis in the United Kingdom last year and exported a very small number of the cabs to overseas markets, such as South Africa, France and Germany.