Word directly from Mitsubishi on date of USA 2014 MiEV

Don't see any good lease rates there just yet, but 0% 5 year financing is nothing to sneeze at.

As I'd expected, there are basically no factory options, so what they call the "ES" in 2014 is a slight upgrade from the 2012 SE, the Premium package having gone bye-bye. If you don't care about color (the only one I wouldn't want myself is black), your car should be available for immediate shipping; you can add your USB port, side moldings, wheel locks, etc. later. By dropping the Premium's excess pricey toys and making everything else (including CHAdeMO DCQC) standard, Mitsubishi's done what they can to make this an easy product to supply.

The SmartED gets a lot more press, but for those who don't require the ForTwo's sub-mini footprint the i-MiEV is far more car for slightly less money. If more people were paying attention (and the press would stop ignoring the car), the i-MiEV would be an excellent fit for many multi-car households. I remain concerned about what their actual production capacity is, but aside from that I'd think this could be fairly successful with even limited advertising (and hey, maybe get creative to earn some free press).

Nice to see you made it Sean! Just received word that we will not have a rear back up camera...so... I'm going to get those bad boys ordered tomorrow. AND we just picked up two more (one more on the west coast and one from the Midwest), I'll let you know more about shipping as I find out tomorrow! :!:

Just drove by my Mitsubishi dealer (R.C. Hill in Deland, FL.) and spotted a new I-MiEV on the lot. Pearl white, ES with zero options. Got it in yesterday. MSRP was 22.6 K. QC and aluminum wheels are now standard. Everything else looked like the old (now we can call it "classic") I-MiEV. It's a real bargain at that price point. He's been pretty aggressive about selling I-MiEVs so I think he will do OK with them with this round. Half the I-MiEVs registered in Florida are in this county!

just saw a 2014 in a dealer lot here in Albany NY. What was most noticeable to me was a different hubcap, no silver accent on the dashboard (all black, very pretty) and the leather accents on the shifter and the steering wheel. Also, the lettering along the shifter is now white instead of red, but its still on the wrong side. Amazing that they haven't corrected that.

Vike said:

The SmartED gets a lot more press, but for those who don't require the ForTwo's sub-mini footprint the i-MiEV is far more car for slightly less money.

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Here in Toronto, the i-MiEV sticker was $34K and my Smart ED was $26K.

I drove away for $19K all in, of which Ontario spotted me $8500, $1000 discount for being a Mercedes customer helped, and a $3000 dealer discount.

I'll let you know if the i-MiEV is cheaper in Toronto, but from what I've seen, Smart is one of the few that is selling for the same price north and south of the border (Tesla is the other). The Leaf is thousands more, so is the Volt.

I called the Capitol Mitsubishi in CA dealer yesterday. The dealer said he has only 1 available for sale, not for test driving, and with a $3K mark up. He has no idea about other arrival. Very disappointing.

pbui19, if you'd like a test drive send me a PM and I'll be happy to show you our Mitsi (I live in the vicinity of Foothill College), and we can talk about other dealerships.

pbui19 said:

I called the Capitol Mitsubishi in CA dealer yesterday. The dealer said he has only 1 available for sale, not for test driving, and with a $3K mark up. He has no idea about other arrival. Very disappointing.

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Yep, here's his windshield sticker, tacking on $2995 on top of the $135 for a USB port and $850 for "Destination and Handling Fees". So, the manufacturer lowers the price and the dealer jacks it up. :x

pbui19 said:

I called the Capitol Mitsubishi in CA dealer yesterday. The dealer said he has only 1 available for sale, not for test driving, and with a $3K mark up. He has no idea about other arrival. Very disappointing.

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If not too far from San Rafael California try San Rafael Mitsubishi . Not that far from Capitol Mitsubishi ... 63 road miles.

They have at least one in stock not at inflated markup. $23K before even haggling price.
http://www.sanrafaelmitsubishi.com/inventory.cfm?type=new&year=&make=Mitsubishi&model=i-MiEV&body=

Even if you're further...... Don't rule out shopping away from home. I'm about 400 miles from them and when I got my 2012 in 2013 it only cost about $400 to have it professionally trucked to me.

And you can always tell the folks at Capitol the you can get one at San Rafael for $23K and see if they'll match. But IMO if given a choice I would not do business with the a dealer that's playing that markup game.

If you want to try to give MiEV visibility a little push you can post a comment at

Pluginchicagometro.org/2014-Mitsubishi-i-MiEV/

It just does not seem right that Mitsubishi would drop the I-Miev's price by $6,000 and then a dealer would add $3,000.

Dave

DaveMiller said:

It just does not seem right that Mitsubishi would drop the I-Miev's price by $6,000 and then a dealer would add $3,000.

Dave

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That scheme will surely lead to dismal sales numbers. :?

It looks like my local dealer (R.C. Hill Mitsubishi) is still in love with the I-MiEV. Drove by and saw a haulaway with at least four I-MiEVs on it (including a blue) unloading. He already has more on the ground. Maybe the dealers in this county are trying to repeat from the lessons they learned last time. If you promote them, people will buy them. Of the 129 I-MiEV's registered in the state of Florida, 52 are registered in this (Volusia) county. We are far from the largest county population wise--so something is going on here.

If not too far from San Rafael California try San Rafael Mitsubishi . Not that far from Capitol Mitsubishi ... 63 road miles.

They have at least one in stock not at inflated markup. $23K before even haggling price.
http://www.sanrafaelmitsubishi.com/inventory.cfm?type=new&year=&make=Mitsubishi&model=i-MiEV&body=
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can I haggle really ? i guess the bottom would be MSRP, anything above MSRP is negotiable ? the only new car I've ever purchased was the 04 Prius, and we had to order it, so haggle then

MSRP is not the bottom price, it is the starting price. Dealer markups should be refused, unless that car is actually the last one in the territory and you've absolutely gotta have it. Same with junk add-ons like VIN etching, undercoating, upholstery protectant, 'invisible bra', etc...
My dealer had already etched the VIN on all cars and claimed it was a nonrefundable item. I said it was a sunk cost to be sure, but not MY sunk cost.

pbui19 said:

can I haggle really ? i guess the bottom would be MSRP, anything above MSRP is negotiable ? the only new car I've ever purchased was the 04 Prius, and we had to order it, so haggle then

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Of course you can haggle! How good at it you are will always determine what you pay for any car. Paying MSRP or one dime more means you want to buy it more than they *need* to sell it - Dealers are always eager to see those kinds of customers walk onto the lot

Cash always talks - After haggling for the best price (the lowest price the manager said he was willing to accept which was about $2K under the MSRP) I showed up the next day with a bank check for several hundred less than his bottom number and told them I was willing to buy today if they would accept my check . . . . and after 5 or 10 minutes in the back room, the manager came out and said "Congrats - You just bought a car!"

Don

Here is a Facebook link from our local dealer that mentions sales, but does not give a number for the I-Miev:
https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/mitsubishistrong

Dave