Why is this vehicle not flying out the doors?

Mitsubishi i-MiEV Forum

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MitsuMike

Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2012
Messages
7
I have been thinking lately, why is this particular vehicle not selling like it should. I mean really, no gas, get close to 65 to 70 miles per charge, tons of stations and have you seen gas prices? Any answers?
 
The utter lack of promotion has a lot to do with it. Not a single person who's asked me about the car had any idea that Mitsubishi was selling an EV. I think our dealers here make a fair enough effort in putting the cars up front and in the showroom (the dealer where I bought actually has a full blown display with stacked picture cubes right next to the Level 2 charger in the showroom), but Mitsu's doing nothing to build awareness among potential buyers.

Outside of EV enthusiast circles, this car's pretty much a secret. Given that, I remain mystified as to why Mitsu executives express "disappointment" about sales to date. Customers aren't likely to buy if you're not selling. I've seen a few TV ads from Mitsu this year (the "Unpretentious" branding campaign), so they are doing some media buys - would it kill 'em to just toss in a "and don't forget the exciting all-new all-electric i-MiEV!!" at the end?
 
NO joke! They promote the hell outta the Outlander Sport. Its a great vehicle for the money but with this vehicle its a better investment than most markets out there. Seriously the Chicago Times Herald I believe has an article about how the money you save of 5 years, it is not nuts!
 
Tons of stations? In truth, probably not a single public recharging station within the cars range for more than half of the people living in this country. I certainly don't have one. My car has never gotten a dimes worth of juice anywhere but my garage in the 6,000 miles we've owned it. I'll bet I have more than 500 gasoline stations within 50 miles of my home (that would be 'tons of stations') but not a single one where you can recharge an EV

1.) The price. The car is actually a $14K econobox which currently sells for $30K. Unless you're well to do enough so that you pay $7500 or more in taxes, you don't get that $7500 'credit' which lowers the price to a still steep, but somewhat more reasonable $22.5K

2.) It's new - Not just a new model car, but a new technology that most folks don't completely understand. People are always wary of anything they don't understand well

3.) It's a little funny looking, if I don't say do myself - Personally, I love the look, but I well understand why the average person might not be all that enthused about having something looking as it does sitting in their driveway

4.) Range anxiety - Most Americans think you should be able to jump into a real car and count on going as far as they like (with no preplanning) without even thinking twice about it. Decide at the last minute to make a 50 mile detour to go see Aunt Mary on your way to/from the grocery store? - No problem, just head out and refuel at any gas station along the way if necessary. Electric cars don't do this

5.) Cost of ownership/fuel. Nobody knows anything about this . . . . yet - Not you and not me. What if the battery needs replacing at 40K or 60K? What's that going to cost? Obviously, the battery that came in the car cost something on the order of $10K, or the car would be much less expensive to buy. If you need a $10K battery every 40K, what does that do to your comparison of fuel costs compared to a 40 mpg ICE?

6.) The car was not marketed agressively, with good answers to any of the above

There are also other, lesser reasons, but this is what Mitsu was up against when they brought the car here, and they just didn't deal with much of it very well

Don
 
Don said:
1.) The price.
2.) It's new
3.) It's a little funny looking
4.) Range anxiety
5.) Cost of ownership/fuel
6.) The car was not marketed agressively

I think Don summs it up very well, I'd add that dealerships didn't have good training in helping potential buyers with the iMiev and these concerns or how to take advantage of tax incentives (I educated our dealer on the 3.5k rebated offered in PA). Or to look at the total cost of ownership. Our car buying culture is way more about bling, excitement, features, safety, and prestige than economy. Which even then is at risk in the iMiev because of the battery replacement uncertainty.

Given all that, it's actually amazing we actually got to buy the iMiev in this country. Perhaps they were hoping to pigtail off of the Leaf for people wanting something cheaper, or that at Mitsubishi the engineers have a bit more clout than the marketing people? Or, just two years ago there were betting (perhaps with still a toe in this water) that gasoline prices will spike and they will be more prepared than most to take advantage of it. Obviously, reality doesn't always unfold like we want it to; but there's still time for some factors to shift in favor of the iMiev.
 
Sadly, most of the reviews and discussions miss the fundamental point that some of us consider the primary reason for getting an EV: total elimination of tailpipe emissions. :mrgreen:

Inasmuch as I normally back into parking spaces, I'm wondering what will happen if I get a parking ticket where this practice is prohibited and I take it to court... :roll:
 
garygid said:
Two sizes of rims and tires, and no spare, might be a factor?
I seriously doubt that has anything to do with sales because there are so many cars out there which use different size tires front to rear and many of them don't come with a spare - Porsche, Corvettes, Nissan Z's and lots of others. It's just not possible to build many platforms if you're restricted to having 4 equally sized wheels/tires and I don't see that factor hurting sales of any of the other cars, so I doubt it has much to do with our cars either

I consider an alternative solution to carrying around a spare wheel/tire to be just plain good engineering. The iMiEV came with a tire plug kit and a 12 volt electric compressor as standard equipment and those are exactly the same things I had to go out and buy when I ditched the spares in all of my other cars many years ago. Carrying a spare wheel/tire plus a jack and tools around in a car which never gets more than 40 miles from home makes even less sense (to me) than it does carrying one when traveling from coast to coast in any of my other cars. I just haven't done that for many, many years. For one, probably half of the spare tires being carried around in most cars are already flat anyway (checked the pressure in yours lately? Most owners never do) and for another, there is no way my wife could ever retrieve the spare, jack up the car, get the lugnuts off and change it, even if it didn't happen at night in the rain . . . . so why pay the space/weight/mileage restriction of carrying around the spare? - Call AAA, or call your husband at home and have him bring the spare :D

Don
 
There has been the "Ugly duck" Citroen 2CV. And now there is the Citroen C-Zero. I do not know if Citroen advertised the duck but it sold and I am sure that same will happen to the i-MiEV.
 
garygid said:
Two sizes of rims and tires, and no spare, might be a factor?

I had two cars between 2001 and 2008 with different sized rims and no spares and did 100k miles plus between them. I had one flat, at home. No issue. I also spent 10yrs commuting 15k a year 52wks a year on a motorbike with no spare.
I'm not saying everyone won't have an issue, but in reality the perception is just that...a perception, at least in my experience.
 
I completely agree with your assement Don. When I stated tons, I am currently talking about the DFW Metroplex where there is a station with ten miles of each other. And because companies are getting that federal money to install the EV charging stations are basically free to put up for these companies. I know here in Texas, a couple different companies like EVgo & blink will install at your job for free. I guess this information is not out there or they fail to inform the public?
 
Yahoo currently has a video on six brands that could disappear from the US market in 2013. Mitsubishi is listed as one of the six. Here is the link.

http://finance.yahoo.com/topics/financially-fit/finfit-6-brands-likely-disappear-150000624.htm
 
You're not kidding about the lack of promotion - I have NEVER seen a MiEV commercial on TV or heard one on the radio!

If it wasn't for little reviews in car magazines and a Saturday morning car talk show here in Dallas on KLIF-AM (the host of the show bought one), I probably wouldn't know the car even exists.

Maybe it's because the MiEV is so new that Mitsubishi may be afraid of selling too many and then having a major recall which could cost $millions. This way, if someone finds a major defect (like the Fisker cars that have caught on fire and even burnt one owner's house down), the recall wouldn't put the whole company in financial jeopardy.

In 2013, I would expect to start seeing TV ads, since no MiEV's have exploded yet :)
 
Lack of promotion. Absolutely. If I wasn't already interested in electric vehicles, I probably wouldn't have known the i-MiEV existed. Mitsubishi is promoting the hell out of their SUVs, probably because they make a lot more profit from them.

Given the relative lack of popularity of hatchbacks in the US overall, adding the word "electric" to "hatchback" has got to be a bad combination. Some of us really like the flexibility of a hatchback: Much of the flexibility of a SUV but with the fuel economy and size of a car. However, most Americans like "car-shaped" cars. There's no reason why Tesla designed their Model S like they did... they could've easily ditched the "frunk"... but they wanted to appeal to Americans.

That being said, I'm surprised I don't get more stares than I do. I chalk this up to the Smart vehicles and Minis on the road. The narrow i-MiEV doesn't look as out-of-place today as it would have 10 years ago. Americans are finally starting to realize they don't need a 7-passenger SUV to tote their one child to the school 2 blocks away. :roll:

Since Mitsubishi already had to re-size the i-MiEV for the US, I'm surprised they didn't go all out, increase the width even more to make it more stable on our high-speed roads, and stretch out the nose to make it more "car shaped".
 
aarond12 said:
Since Mitsubishi already had to re-size the i-MiEV for the US, I'm surprised they didn't go all out, increase the width even more to make it more stable on our high-speed roads, and stretch out the nose to make it more "car shaped".
You'll change your tune after you've squeezed your iMiEV into a few places that "car-shaped" vehicles couldn't. ;)
 
I absolutely love the shortness of the iMiev. I get into parking spaces in Manhattan that most other drivers dream of. The car has probably saved me more in parking fees than it has in gas...and the front seats are easier to get in and out of than many larger cars I have owned. I say leave it alone.

Also, many are saying that the iMiev should be better built to suit the highway. But it is not a highway car. It is a city, suburban thing and it fits that niche very nicely. If you want more of a highway car, you have to spend about 150 percent more for a Tesla. (OK, I would like all four of my tires to be the same size).

Even amongst ourselves...dedicated EV pioneers...we keep trying to impose ICE standards on something that isn't.

Range will improve...size will grow...I'm happy with the present cost/benefit ratio.
 
I think we may see an upswing in the number of I's sold this past month, as there have been some enticing lease deals being offered. Becasue of the deals, I was able to lease an I, and am absolutely thrilled with the car. Mitsubishi has done essentially nothing, in the US at least, to promote the car, which is a shame because from my initial impressions, it's a darn good little car. Many co-workers of mine have asked about the car, some of whom did not even know that EV's existed. All of them commented on how cute the car looks. I agree, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. :D This is a car, much like the Nissan Leaf, where the manufacturer will probably have to take an initial hit on R&D costs, to bring a good EV to the public. Once people get in and drive one, their opinion usually changes form skepticism to delight. I took a co-worker for a ride in our parking lot. Before we took off, She'd exclaimed that it was a glorified golf cart. Two minutes later she was gushing about how much room the car has(it's true, it is much bigger inside than you would think) and how smooth and quick the ride is.OK, it's slow after a certain point, but it has good pickup at the lower speeds, and that's commonly when you'd need that zip, to get around a car ahead of you, etc. I have taken the I on the PA Turnpike, only for a few miles, and the car had no problem with the speed of the traffic. True enough that you wouldn't want to drive very far on the Turnpike, but if you have to, it's more than capable.
 
JoeS said:
You'll change your tune after you've squeezed your iMiEV into a few places that "car-shaped" vehicles couldn't. ;)
:lol: You are exactly right. The turning radius on my previous car was very good for a transversely-mounted inline 4, but my i-MiEV turns in an even smaller radius. I'm less concerned about getting my doors dinged, too, because of the width of the car.

I've always liked non "car-shaped" cars. My first car, a Ford Fiesta, started my love of hatchbacks. Statistically speaking, however, most Americans don't like hatchbacks. They don't know what they're missing.

gatedad11 said:
I think we may see an upswing in the number of I's sold this past month, as there have been some enticing lease deals being offered. Becasue of the deals, I was able to lease an I, and am absolutely thrilled with the car.
I also got my i-MiEV on one of the killer lease deals. I knew I would enjoy owning an EV, having previously driven a Nissan Leaf, but having one every day is an even better experience. I was noting to myself how nice it is to unplug the car knowing I have a full tank. No more standing in the cold pumping gas when I'm already late for work! :p
 
I don't know what this talk is about the i MiEV not being friendly to highways. I drive mine everyday on a 54 mile round trip commute to work with 90% highway. Last night I drove home with a winter storm advisory with 50mph wind gusts. No problem whatsoever and not much different than my Nissan Versa, well actually I think the Mitsubishi does a bit better.

Yes, we will hear more wind noise the faster we go but we also don't have engines that drown out that sound. I'm quite used to it since I rode a motorcycle for five years. Wind noise is just par for the course is all. I just haven't been able to find anything that I really can't stand about this car unlike my Versa which wasn't a bad car either.
 
MLucas said:
I don't know what this talk is about the i MiEV not being friendly to highways. I drive mine everyday on a 54 mile round trip commute to work with 90% highway. Last night I drove home with a winter storm advisory with 50mph wind gusts. No problem whatsoever and not much different than my Nissan Versa, well actually I think the Mitsubishi does a bit better....
MLucas, I agree with you wholeheartedly and I have no idea why the un-factual perception that this isn't a good highway vehicle still persists. I also drive my iMiEV a lot on the freeways where traffic moves well in excess of the legal 65mph, especially in the HOV lane for which we have a special sticker to drive in solo. Unless I'm going to be pushing the iMiEV's range limit, I drive the iMiEV with no reservations and especially enjoy running away from the traffic following me on freeway onramps.
 
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