Oh Mia: Leaf And I-Miev Get Serious Competition

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Currently, the only commercially available plug-in on the European market is the Mitsubishi i-Miev. You can also have it as Peugeot iOn, or as Citroen C-Zero. Not much is known about their sales success. Launched in Japan in 2009, the i-Miev last month celebrated its 5000th car rolling off the Japanese production lines. Which earned the i-Miev the title “best selling pure EV” – the numbers are that big. The numbers will soon get much bigger – if all goes according to plan.

By the end of 2011, or in the beginning of 2012, the multiple personae i-Miev will be joined by the Nissan Leaf. In Europe, the car already has been crowned “Car of the Year 2011“ – in absentia. Leaf and i-Miev share the usual shortcomings of a plug-in:The limited range and the high price. In Europe, the i-Miev costs around €35,000 ($46,000 – please no discussion about VAT and purchasing power.) The Leaf is expected to come in at a similar price.

In Germany, there is a car that wants to give the Japanese plug-ins a run for their Euros: Her name is Mia. And when Mia comes to market this coming year, she will be available at the bargain basement price of €19,500 ($25,700). Which is especially good news for German plug-in fanciers, as the stingy German government is resolutely against government subsidies.

Mia is a product of the Germany company Conenergy. In a way. Conenergy bought parts of the French Heuliez coachbuilders after the company went bankrupt. Amongst the assets was an electric car named “Friendly.” Conenergy hired a former Volkswagen designer, Murat Günak. According to Die Welt, Günak smoothed the “plain shoebox design” a bit.

Now the car looks, says the paper, “like a VW Bus that shrunk in the laundry.” And she’s called Mia now.

The low price comes at, well, a price: Mia has only 25 hp, a Prozac-worthy range of 100km (62 miles) and an exhilarating top speed of 110 km/h (68mph). Die Welt testdrove a prototype – in a parking garage. The prototype, the one and only Mia available at the moment, was “too precious” for the open road. Die Welt’s criticism of the Mia was, by force of the limiting circumstances of the testing environment, restricted to “the compressor of the brake booster drones on like an old refrigerator.”

Die Welt refrains from panning or praising the EV. Instead, the paper quotes Roman Dudenhausen, head of Conenergy: “One must see and drive the car to understand it.”


Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Charly Charly on Dec 18, 2010
    as the stingy German government is resolutely against government subsidies. as long as no German car maker makes any competitive electric vehicles My prediction is that this will change the moment VW has a Leaf.
  • Dukeisduke Is the Volvo EX30 even on sale yet? It was pulled from the NACTOY awards because they were having software problems with the vehicle.
  • Wjtinfwb If you've only got 5k to spend on transportation, I cannot imagine a worse way to spend it than on a GM orphan from Sweden that's 15 years old with 150k on the clock and limited plus expensive parts availability and dwindling techs who'd even want to work on it. Go find a similar vintage Camry or Accord with 150k miles or even a Ford or a Chevy, whatever. Hell, even an old Jaguar is less of a crapshoot than a Saab. At least you can still get parts.
  • Kwik_Shift Brands that were considered from China include BYD, Dayun, Great Wall Motors, Maxus, Nio, Omoda/Chery, Seres, XPeng, and Zeekr. KG Mobility from South Korea also made the list of candidates.That's a lot of car companies from there ready to head here.
  • Analoggrotto Clean sweep and unanimous victory for the world affluence engine of 22nd century : Hyundai/Kia/Genesis. Toyota and Lexus, for 120 years of history have not been able to capture the zenith superlative status of Hyundai Motor Corporation the most awarded, decorated and revered automotive corporation in the history of historical. Featuring best ever, first ever and greatest ever e-ATPs the Hyundai Genesis Kia lineup is posed to become the envy of every country club, ivy league college and fortune 500 corporation in the world. I've been taking a roadtrip in my loaner Elantra N, visiting colleges from east to west, elite universities of higher learning to inspect their parking lots. WHat did I find? Leagues of Genesis models, outnumbering Lexus 3 to 1. When I interviewed faculty and staff at these places of greater learning, their response was unanimous : they chose HMC for the ATPs.
  • Mikey 2019 Chevy Impala Premier FWD with 20 inch factory Bridgestones. I'm looking at replacing tires at the 65,000 KLM's (40,000 miles ) mark ....It doesn't thrill me .. I'm pricing Michelin Cross Climate 2 tires ouch !! ..Up here in Canuckastan ....Big $$$$$
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