Mitsubishi unveils all-electric i-MiEV for sale in Japan
TOKYO -- Mitsubishi Motors' electric vehicle is twice as expensive as popular hybrid cars by rivals Toyota and Honda, but Japan's No. 4 automaker said Friday the i-MiEV will help it survive increasingly intense global competition.
"With the electric vehicle, we will challenge global players," said Mitsubishi President Osamu Masuko at a news conference where the company rolled out the electric model.
The i-MiEV is powered solely by electricity, and can be recharged from a regular home socket. The four-seater vehicle can run up to 100 miles after charging seven hours at 200 volts.
"It is a zero-emission vehicle. It does not rely on oil, which is different from hybrid cars," Masuko said. A hybrid car switches between a gasoline engine and an electric motor to boost mileage.
Initially, Mitsubishi aims to target local governments and companies, and hopes to sell 1,400 units of the electric car for the fiscal year through March 2010, mostly in Japan.
Mitsubishi also aims to sell 250 units abroad, mainly in Britain and other European countries, in the current financial year.
Individual buyers in Japan can place orders for the car in July, with deliveries starting in April 2010.
It also plans to sell the car in China and the United States, but Masuko gave no details.
Mitsubishi's i-MiEV costs 4.59 million yen ($47,560), more than twice as much as Toyota's Prius hybrid, which is just over 2 million yen ($20,700), or Honda's Insight, which starts at 1.89 million yen, the cheapest hybrid on the market.
Masuko acknowledged the high price is a major hurdle to encouraging people to buy the i-MiEV, which stands for Mitsubishi innovative electric vehicle. (The initial "i" doesn't have any particular meaning, the company says.)
"This is not the price that ordinary people can easily buy. But as we increase our production, we aim to cut the price below 2 million yen," he said without elaborating further.
Masuko noted that i-MiEV Japanese consumers can receive hefty subsidies and pay no tax under a government program promoting the use of ecological vehicles. With the help of government subsidies, the car costs 3.209 million yen, down 43% from the original price, or about $33,000.
