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.
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.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.
. . . 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?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.
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.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.
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