Mitsubishi Will No Longer Sell the i MiEV in the USA

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Well, this is about as good of a place that I can think of to announce it. This is the comment I left.

I knew this was coming (the i-MiEV disappeared from Mitsubishi's website a couple of months ago).

I have to say that the low sales are not purely a result of the car's ability. Most of it is because of the terrible job Mitsubishi did at marketing the car. Even today, so few people know that Mitsubishi makes (made) an EV. You can't sell a car when nobody knows it exists. I found out about it because it was in the video game Gran Turismo 5. I then did some research and found they were landing in the US within months. I saw my first one at the car show two months later, and bought one a year after that. To this date, I've come across 11 i-MiEVs: 3 here in my corner of the state, 5 in Normal, Illinois (road trip), and 3 in Silicon Valley (same road trip). I still believe I own the only two in my county.

It's a wonderful little (actually, only looks little) car that I plan to continue owning for years to come. Realizing how rare they are made me relegate my first i-MiEV from daily driver to collector car status, and I now drive a new Chevy Bolt EV everyday. My second i-MiEV only gets about 5 miles a day put on 3 days of the week, so it will continue to be driven by friends and family. I'll still drive my first i-MiEV on weekends, to shows, and for hauling my electric bike (as it has a hitch receiver on it).

For those looking for a modern equivalent to the i-MiEV or want to get a feel for how they are, I recommend the Chevy Bolt. It's uncanny how similar the two cars are. As for the Outlander PHEV, don't hold your breath. That's been promised for the US for years now (they had a good chance to beat the Model X).

It's sad to hear that the i-MiEV has been discontinued in the US, but I can hardly say I'm surprised, given how Mitsubishi treated it.
 
Farewell Miev

It's definitely unfortunate that this little gem of a an EV is at the end of availability in the US. I'm not sure what their plans are for Canada or other nations, but the outlook doesn't look promising.

I believe the Miev was a landmark in EVs, a turning point that pushed EV's to the forefront of attention and brought on the beginnings of large EV production and provoked competition in the infancy of personal electric mobilization.
The Miev's distinct styling, minimalist marketing efforts, design limitations, and Mitsubishi's poor follow through in advancement in improvements has brought it to a point that it is not able to compete in today's second generation EV's standards.

I believe the Miev was a huge learning curve, and testing ground for Mitsubishi's EV development, & that they pretty much succeeded to work out the bugs in the latter year models.
They applied that knowledge to the very successful & much more profitable plug in hybrid the Outlander.
In combination with the limited battery production availability at that time & the Miev's design limitations they lost interest in further developing the Miev.
The Miev continues to be a great EV that does what it was designed to do very well
and very economically.

The time for a specific EV vehicle wheels up design is due to compete in today's market.

Just my views and observations.
Thanks for reading
 
Concur with all the above. Many of the comments at Green Car Reports reflect the usual ignorance, either of the car itself or the fact that "practical" means different things to different people. The i-MiEV has supplanted our Gen2 Prius as my favorite car ever, and I doubt it will be bettered -it's just too much fun (e.g., the Gen4 Prius we got a few years later is very nice, but too grown-up).

As I wrote last year when things were clearly nearing the end, after observing how downright inexpensive the car had gotten:
For that piddling investment, you can get a deranged-looking 80mph street legal electric go-kart that's fully enclosed, climate controlled (and it's only the heat that kills the range, A/C's no big deal), safer than you imply (pretty aggressive VSC and a ton of airbags, plus a physical frame that can take more of a hit than you'd expect), with room for four non-contorted adults plus some stuff in back (bigger trunk than a Volt) or two people and a TON of stuff, with 2/3 the range of the much more expensive LEAF. And that's just the practical part - most of all, what everyone misses who hasn't bothered to try one is that the CUV ride height, electric torque, low-slung battery, and RWD makes 'em crazy fun to drive around town, in ways that a muscle car or Miata is not. I wouldn't trade mine even for a LEAF (as long as my wife didn't hear about it), which is a perfectly fine car but considerably shorter on entertainment value.
Really, how the pure fun of be-bopping around town in this go-kart could be overlooked by both reviewers and Mitsu marketers has always puzzled me.

I'm sorry MMNA never gave the car a chance, especially after Mitsu corporate made such a huge investment in developing the NA version. It remains one of the enduring mysteries of the EV renaissance. All I can say from personal experience is that every single person in my acquaintance who was aware of the car learned about it from me. Strangers assume it's a 4-door Smart that they hadn't heard of, and are VERY surprised to learn it's a Mitsubishi BEV. All that speaks volumes about MMNA's lack of advertising and promotion.

As for this little gem:
Rasch added that the Mitsubishi Outlander Plug-In Hybrid will launch later this year and arrive at dealers nationwide during the first quarter of 2018.
. . . is it just me, or did that reduce anyone else here to spasms of laughter as they fell off their chair? Yeah, fool me twice, shame on me - but who gets fooled ten times?
 
Vike, you've nailed the driveability and entertainment value of our i-MiEVs perfectly! Your writeup would make a great addition to the Comments in that Green Car Reports article.

After returning from our long trips in the Tesla, it's always a pleasure to jump into the i-MiEV and toss it around.

No, you weren't the only one to burst out laughing about the Outlander Plug-In Hybrid - Mitsubishi blew it already multiple times (as you pointed out), and I'm not holding my breath.
 
Have not posted here for a while. Sad news but I don't think it surprises any of us due to I-Miev's disappointing NA sales and the introduction of 2nd generation EV.

I don't care what other people/reviewers say about I-Miev as my family absolutely loves it! In fact, I am currently looking for our 2nd I-Miev - either a 12 SE or a 14 model.
 
Yea. I've been loving mine up in Idaho. I don't think I'll ever see that good of a price for a new EV again.
 
Naturally I was greatly disappointed but not surprised about the news that Mitsubishi will discontinue the I-Miev in the USA.
My I-Miev now joins my 1980 Commuta Car (City Car) as a orphaned electric car.
Let's hope the same thing doesn't happen to the model 3 Tesla I have reserved.
 
BarryP said:
Yea. I've been loving mine up in Idaho. I don't think I'll ever see that good of a price for a new EV again.
If you have a dealership and are only concerned with personal transportation, the electric Smart comes pretty close value-wise. The problem, of course, is no back seat and limited (as in cab of a conventional compact pickup truck) cargo space.

I find it unfortunate that those seeking an affordable new EV will be forced to make such radical compromises, either to pay for more car than they need with a LEAF or settle for less car than they want with a Smart. Taking a broader perspective, what really annoys me is that the SmartED was generally treated more kindly by the press than Mitsu's effort, even when it was significantly worse in every quality that reviewers complained made the i-MiEV "impractical" for the U.S. market.
 
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