'Mitsubishi Motors: Sever ties with its longtime partner, or choose to support its revival. "We chose the latter,"'
As Ghosn states, he chose the latter, however, supporting revival could imply that the existing products weren't profitable enough (and it's pretty obvious that Mitsu lost a fair load of money on the IMIEV project) - so, as a cynic choosing the latter can often sort of meant the former.
Its a shame that it looks like the current most popular models of EVs will become like toasters and washing machines - the same, but with different badges on the front. That may still be a good product, but it's not great for consumer choice, because your choices are Nissan Leaf, Renault Leaf or Mitsubishi Leaf essentially - all with the same technology, and its not necessarily the best out there.
I think the most significant product Mitsubishi had on offer was the Outlander PHEV, and thats a valuable class for Nissan - as in Europ they have the Quashki and X-trail, both of which are ICE only, so I think they were definitely interested in the 4x4 segment. Peugeot/ Citroen already had a tie up with Mitsubishi, so this deal ends that possibility for them, and the previous Outlander was also offered as a brand engineered Peugeot - but failed to sell in large numbers.
It does confine the IMIEV to history as a first in a number of things, but also the last.
There are definitely some cars that are desirable in their exclusivity, I think the IMIEV will stay that way, and it will get more popular I am sure, especially as the 2020 upspike in EV rollout comes - people will definitely look further.
I still cant understand why Mitsubishi put no sign of the words 'EV' or Zero Emission on the car... yes it's in the name, but it's not immediately obvious to the mainstream.
After owning my IMIEV for 8 months now, I am still trying to understand the long term implications to EV ownership - does the car become like an appliance that breaks and gets thrown away after 8-10 years, or is it fully repairable, like most ICE cars - that is a question I keep asking myself. The great thing about ICE is that there generally arent any single-part components that would write off a car if they went wrong, but thats something that EVs do possess - especially the IMIEV, where the battery is essentially a non-service item. I think thats a part of my utilitarianism - I don't like throwing things that can be fixed away, so I have always chosen fixable things (or things that dont go wrong much, like Hondas and Toyotas). I think that anyone who drives an IMIEV has to be fairly utilitarian, and the thought of a cell failure writing the car off is a major thing I battle with, because I do not have the ability or time to take on that kind of fix. The spare parts availability is also very limited - it's no Ford Focus after all.
Thats a big consideration to someone like me, who before the IMIEV, tended to buy higher than average cost vehicles, but at about 4-6 years old, and kept them for about 3-6 years after that. It's a different way of looking at car ownership, and a battery failure is always a consideration.
