Mitsubishi announced that it will cut the sticker price of its i-MiEV electric car by 20% for the 2014 model year, following price cuts at other automakers that sell EVs. Automotive News reports that the ’14 i-MiEV will start at $23,845 including destination charges when it goes on sale next spring. That’s a $6,130 reduction from the previous 2012 model, which sold so slowly that Mitsubishi didn’t offer a 2013 model year i-MiEV so they could sell down unsold units.
After the $7,500 federal tax credit still in effect, the base i-MiEV will cost $16,345. The base i-MiEV will also be upgraded with aluminum wheels, a quick-charging port, audio speakers in the back doors, heated front seats and side mirrors and leather for the steering wheel and shift knob as standard equipment.
Earlier this year Nissan, GM and Ford significantly reduced the prices of the Leaf, Chevy Volt and the Focus Electric. A Mitsubishi spokesman said that the new low price would allow the i-MiEV to compete with gasoline powered subcompacts as well as other EVs.
Mitsubishi sold just 12 i-MiEVs in November, with year-to-date sales of the car totaling 1,018 .
Golf cart
While i-MiEV deserves a certain derision for being poorly executed, it’s not a golf cart in the same way real streetgoing golf cart is, such as GEM. You can drive i-MiEV on freeway, and it will protect you in a crash to a significant extent. It actually is a wonder of wonders: the one and only U.S.-spec kei-car, which you can buy today! Some of B&B express their amiration of keis on these hallowed pages… And now it’s even affordable.
In fact, it could probably be a fun project to re-engine one of these i’s. I know people used to get CARB stickers for re-engined Toyotas with 2.2L diesel. Surely one should be able to do that elsewhere even easier.
I knew it would have admirers! If I lived in a congested city with little parking or had a short daily commute, it would be a fine second car, same as a leaf. Cannot see how mitsu stays in business in the US though, Pete.
Well said, Pete!
Mitsubishi.
I’ve only seen two i-MiEVs the entire time they’ve been sold here: a black one in Louisville, and a white one in the Seattle area. Maybe I’ll see a few more with this price drop?
I saw one in SLC recently. It’s the only one I’ve ever seen. Honestly, I’m kind of surprised that anyone bought one.
That was probably my Redmond neighbor you saw in Seattle who owns a white one. I’ve talked to him about it, and he likes it so far. He just got PV panels put up on his south-facing roof this past August, so it will be partially recharged by solar power too.
The 6 people who already bought one are really angry that Mitsubishi reduced their resale value by $6K in a day. Maybe Mitsubishi could offer them an extended warranty to make it up to them.
Unless they were extremely gullible, the six probably didn’t fair too badly. Seems like Mitsubishi has been putting big money on the hood of any new i-MiEV for some time, getting the after-federal-tax-credit price down to around $12.5k. All they’re doing is taking the price of the 2014 down enough so they don’t have to have such huge rebates to move the things.
As mentioned, for a kei urban car, the I-MiEV wouldn’t be so bad. Still, the market would seem very narrow.
Four of those six are at a nearby auction, just sitting around.
Still, Georgia does offer an additional $5000 in state tax relief. Not too shabby.
The good news: price drop.
The bad news: it’s still a Mitsubishi.
John
Is there any evidence cost has dropped? What’s really going on with electrics?
Not sure. Nissan claims it’s making money on the Leaf now. But I think they’ll be taking a bath when the 2011s start coming off lease soon.
Batteries are still expensive, but total mfg costs are certainly going down. Battery costs may be dropping slightly due to economies of scale, rather than some core technology improvement.
I mentioned GEM for a reason that I saw people actually buying them and driving them around. Not in SF, of course. That place is too crowded, you must have 1 car that does the job of your only car. But in Bay Area suburbs, GEMs apparently worked for some, despite the fact that you cannot get _anywhere_ without getting on a freeway there.
Now look at it this way: of course the Mitsu is inferior to LEAF in any concievable respect. It a poor, haphazard electrification of a kei, and every review notices how little thought Mitsubishi put into e.g. instrument cluster. Fine. But it’s miles ahead of GEM, while GEM, last I checked, was selling for something like $14k! For a real golf cart!
I would drive one if the cost was low enough. Its strictly an appliance, and with credits and incentives this could put the monthly out of pocket cost low enough to offset the cost of fuel for an ICE car and make it essentially free. The Leaf is already pretty close to that point, this one can’t be too far off. I would gladly take one to commute and run errands, allowing me to have a completely impractical fun car to go with it. If you think of it as a 3rd or 4th car instead of a primary vehicle its not a bad choice.
Lipstick on a silent, electric-humming pig.
I’ve seen them on a dealer lot, and a grand total of one in the wild.
Nissan, Chevy, and Tesla each sell more Leafs, Volts, and Ss in two weeks than Mitsubishi does i-MiEVs in a year, but actually, this is the story for all of Mitsubishi’s product in the US. I feel sad for their engineers. The Leaf may resemble a frog, but the i-MiEV is just goofy-looking.
The price drop should certainly help, as would a little advertising.
I saw one of these, in white, on the road near me in Albany NY. I wasn’t quite sure what it was, thought maybe it was the latest iteration of the smart car.
I just chuckled as i passed it in the left lane, driving my 45 MPG 17 year old Honda…
For the subprime 435 beacon greenie, there is now a car for you.
I can’t, for the life of me, figure out what Mitsubishi is doing here. This car is too ugly to succeed. May as well throw in the towel. Where did they go so wrong?