Those taxis have started to appear in Austria about a year ago. most of them come in full advertising livery, I remember quite a lot of ugly T-Mobile magenta ones. The classic taxi here has been the Mercedes for ages. They aren't that expensive and most of all the Diesel versions last forever. There are still plenty of late 70ies models around. Nowadays there are some Citroen and other makes as well, but Mercedes is still dominant (for example my uncle drives an Opel in everyday life and a Mercedes taxi). I've never seen an American car used as a Taxi. They're helluva expensive here and their fuel consumption is beyond belief compared to European and Japanese cars (a cousin of mine drove a Chrysler Voyager Diesel for some time and he kept complaining about it until he dumped it for a Renault Kangoo). US cars are still pretty rare here, most companies produce different models for the European market (like a Ford Europe is something completely different than a US Ford).
