WHAT CAN I DO TO INCREASE SALES OF THE CAR?

[alohart]

While listening to NPR's Wait Wait … Don't Tell Me! on their Website today, I was surprised to hear and see a Mitsubishi i-MiEV ad!

Opening the media player several times resulted in Toyota ads as well, but it seems that i-MiEV ads play as often as the Toyota ads, so there is some decent exposure there. NPR listeners are probably a good target audience for the i-MiEV. Let's hear and see more of this!

 

[Vike]

While listening to NPR's Wait Wait … Don't Tell Me![/url] on their Website today, I was surprised to hear and see a Mitsubishi i-MiEV ad!
...
Opening the media player several times resulted in Toyota ads as well, but it seems that i-MiEV ads play as often as the Toyota ads, so there is some decent exposure there. NPR listeners are probably a good target audience for the i-MiEV. Let's hear and see more of this!

I feel really bad having to point this out, alohart, but I'm guessing the overwhelming majority of visitors won't see that ad. You're being tracked, and the ad's targeted to you because the site ties to a service that identifies you as someone interested in the i-MiEV. I see the same sorts of things all over the web. BTW, this demonstrates how badly this kind of micro-targeting can miss the mark - we already own the car, so the ad buys are wasted.

 

[jray3]

http://insideevs.com/nissan-prices-new-leaf-s-model-at-28800-puts-plug-in-competition-on-notice/

Ok, it's happened. You can now get a LEAF cheaper than an iMiEV, and it's made in America.
:?
Maybe I should stop putting so many miles on my i- diminishing it's value as a collector's item...
HowEVer, one can't ignore the value of the last 16,000 miles of use, at positive cash flow. Waiting another year for a bargain LEAF wouldn't have been near as much fun!

 

[alohart]

I feel really bad having to point this out, alohart, but I'm guessing the overwhelming majority of visitors won't see that ad. You're being tracked, and the ad's targeted to you because the site ties to a service that identifies you as someone interested in the i-MiEV.

Ah, you're probably correct although I have a "do not track" header sent with every Web request (which advertisers are free to ignore) and run Ghostery to block tracking as much as possible.

With the Leaf S priced lower than any i-MiEV starting this spring, Mitsubishi must do much more than just advertise to compete successfully. Mitsubishi missed its opportunity when the i-MiEV was the least expensive EV.

 

[NeilBlanchard]

I'd like to point out that improving the efficiency of the *car* would sell more, because the range could be significantly improved. If the i MiEV was as low drag as the EV1, it would have a range of 98 miles or so.

 

[Don]

If improving the 'efficiency' meant a less practical shape, then I wouldn't have bought one. The excellent use of space with adequate head and foot room for 4 normal sized adults plus significant cargo room was one of the things that sold me on the car. I'll happily trade a few miles of range for that

BTW - There are people who have driven the car 98 miles on one charge just as it is. I pretty regularly get 80 to 85 miles. It often takes me 2 or 3 days to use that many miles, so giving up practical use of space would gain me nothing of value while making the car less useful for the way we use it

Don

 

[Vike]

Ok, it's happened. You can now get a LEAF cheaper than an iMiEV, and it's made in America.
:?
Maybe I should stop putting so many miles on my i- diminishing it's value as a collector's item...
HowEVer, one can't ignore the value of the last 16,000 miles of use, at positive cash flow. Waiting another year for a bargain LEAF wouldn't have been near as much fun!

I've started another thread on this specific issue (though obviously relevant to this topic as well).

I couldn't agree more (about it being less fun to wait yet another few months for the cheapo Leaf), though here in New Mexico I wasn't able to get the i-MiEV I wanted until after Labor Day (Mitsu did a terrible job filling pre-orders, a few folks were able to walk in off the street and buy one off the floor before I got mine, but none exactly matched my order sheet). I'm comfortable with the car's value to me for the price paid, and so far have really enjoyed owning and driving it.

Personally, I prefer the cheerful utility of the i's character to the Leaf's bland franco-futurist sculpting and game controller interface, though I freely admit that's a matter of idiosyncratic taste. As long as I can keep it running at reasonable cost (mainly hope the mechanicals don't wear out too quickly and can be fixed at less than extortionate prices), I see no reason to part with it any time soon unless some avid car collector were to offer me a good price to own a little EV history (not holding my breath on that one :roll.

 

[jray3]

"bland franco-futurist sculpting and game controller interface" -gotta love that review!! :lol:

Our car just dropped off the radar of the leading eco-car buying guide.
http://www.greenercars.org/highlights_greenest.htm

After being named Greenest Car of 2012 the i-MiEV was not even mentioned in the 2013 list or press release "due to anticipated low sales volumes", yet they list the compliance-cars Fit and Focus. :? Talk about your self-fulfilling prophecies- time for some letters to the editor!

 

[Vike]

After being named Greenest Car of 2012 the i-MiEV was not even mentioned in the 2013 list or press release "due to anticipated low sales volumes", yet they list the compliance-cars Fit and Focus. :? Talk about your self-fulfilling prophecies- time for some letters to the editor!

Maybe - but letters to MMNA would be more to the point. Don't get me wrong, I am so happy that unlike actual compliance cars, the i-MiEV wound up for sale nationwide, so I was able to get my hands on one in lil' ol' Albuquerque (where the Prius Plug-In is still nowhere to be seen). But the reality is that selling less than 800 cars all year through that nationwide distribution is beyond pathetic - those are below compliance-car volumes, after all. That's why, given the bare facts, my gripe is less with the Greenest Car editors and more with MMNA execs.

I still don't understand why Mitsu did so little to announce the existence of this car (notice I don't even say "promote"). The only ads they ever ran were those little Normal EVtown spots, which never named the car, never mentioned its price, didn't even indicate that it was available for sale beyond some oddball test market in Illinois (watch those ads again - that's exactly the impression it creates).

If this wasn't a compliance car, I'm not sure what Mitsubishi was trying to accomplish. The most credible story I've heard so far is that Nissan set the U.S. price for the Leaf lower than Mitsubishi had expected, and they were stuck at the end of an expensive development program with a less appealing car that cost so much to build that they couldn't sell it profitably at a competitive price. In other words, they had to sell 'em at a loss to sell 'em, and they sure weren't going to spend advertising dollars trying to boost those transactions. While I sort of understand that story, it doesn't jive with later statements that they were "disappointed" by sales and had to "re-think" their electrification plans; at the end of the day, I think the "losing money" story is close to the truth and their more recent statements are part of some scripted performance justifying actions planned long ago. That's the real self-fulfilling prophecy. We should probably count ourselves lucky that we wound up getting our neat little 'lectro-buggies at a price subsidized at so many levels.

 

[NeilBlanchard]

The i MiEV is still on the Green Car Reports EV Buying Guide:

http://www.greencarreports.com/news...-guide-every-2012-2013-plug-in-car-with-specs

 

[danpatgal]

The most credible story I've heard so far is that Nissan set the U.S. price for the Leaf lower than Mitsubishi had expected, and they were stuck at the end of an expensive development program with a less appealing car that cost so much to build that they couldn't sell it profitably at a competitive price. In other words, they had to sell 'em at a loss to sell 'em, and they sure weren't going to spend advertising dollars trying to boost those transactions. While I sort of understand that story, it doesn't jive with later statements that they were "disappointed" by sales and had to "re-think" their electrification plans; at the end of the day, I think the "losing money" story is close to the truth and their more recent statements are part of some scripted performance justifying actions planned long ago. That's the real self-fulfilling prophecy. We should probably count ourselves lucky that we wound up getting our neat little 'lectro-buggies at a price subsidized at so many levels.

Vike, I think Mitsubishi got caught with their pants down. So, instead of saying, whoops, we messed up, they simply say they're "disappointed" and have to "re-think" their strategy. It's about not looking bad and not admitting they failed. In the end, that's all subjective anyway - I think they did a great job getting a quality EV to me before (or roughly the same time as the Leaf) any others, and with the best value. Let's hope the EVs keep rolling out after a very brief PHEV honeymoon.

 

[fjpod]

I was at my dealer today in NJ...Bell Mitsubishi, the technician says they keep selling them. They order four or five at a time and they usually sell out within a month or so.

 

[alohart]

i-MiEV sales aren't lagging behind Leaf sales everywhere.

 

[MLucas]

I found an interesting picture on the Facebook Mitsubishi Canada - Jan 4 posting today. Two I MieVs are front and center in the photo under a banner that says, 'Come Check Out Our 2013 LineUp'. The fat lady must not have sung yet. Canadians pay a lot more for gas than the neighbors south of our borders, cars like this are more popular here. However, we do have our share of boneheads driving massive trucks with hard tonneau covers and no hitch in the receiver.

 

[blownb310]

Has anyone seen or confirmed that a 2013 model is coming?

 

[tonymil]

Has anyone seen or confirmed that a 2013 model is coming?

There's going to be an "i" at the NY car show in a couple of weeks. I hope they wouldn't stick a 2012 model in that show.

http://www.mitsubishicars.com/MMNA/jsp/company/autoshow.do

 

[blownb310]

Oh, that's good. I'm planning to go next Saturday, and I look forward to seeing one there. I see no mention of the new Mirage though. I was hoping to see one of those too.

 

[BillSF]

I heard from a Mitsubishi engineer that there won't be a 2013 model. they want to sell off the remaining 2012's and then will issue the 2014's

Bill

 

[nsps]

I heard from a Mitsubishi engineer that there won't be a 2013 model. they want to sell off the remaining 2012's and then will issue the 2014's

Bill

If that's the case, I guess the good news is that they aren't just abandoning the model completely just yet…

 

[blownb310]

There's going to be an "i" at the NY car show in a couple of weeks. I hope they wouldn't stick a 2012 model in that show.

They had four of them there, in every color available.

I was actually glad they had them at the show. They also had a Diamond White Pearl/Ocean Blue one that was part of the EV Pavillion demonstration ride along loop outside.