Expo taxis at the end of the road in Shanghai

The Expo taxi, a special model for the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, will no longer be on the roads next year due to high maintenance costs, the Oriental Morning Post reported on Tuesday.

A total of 3,650 Volkswagen Touran served as Expo taxis. They were popular among customers because of their size and comfort.

But fuel consumption and maintenance fees were higher than for the normal Santana cabs.

The Haibo Taxi company, one of Shanghai's major taxi operators, sold 80 Touran cars into the second-hand vehicle market and the other 500 taxis are expected to be phased out in the next few months, said the report.

Two other major taxi companies, Dazhong and Qiangsheng, however, do not have immediate plans for their Expo taxis but they are expected to be phased out around March 2014, said the report.