WHAT CAN I DO TO INCREASE SALES OF THE CAR?

[BillThompsonMIEV]

Most of us agree the i-Miev is a great car, but minimal sales detract from it. Does anyone have an e-mail address of a marketing person associated with Mitsubishi, that I can express my concerns? TV ads are non existent here in San Antonio, TX and print ads are nothing.

 

[iMiEVNZ7]

Hi Bill, Same here in NZ, no great amount of advertising from Mitsubishi, and no incentives from government here. no road tax here for electric car though until 2020...

We hope to be able to show the car at fairs to get more people to experience it.

 

[MLucas]

Go to the automotive web sites and place a review of the i. There are very few on Edmunds and Cars.com compared to the Leaf or the Volt. We need to get our review numbers up. When I'm interested in a product I read the reviews of Joe Average on different sites to help me get a balanced opinion. These reviews do help sell.

Second, act as a salesperson. Tell everyone you know about how much you love your i MiEV. When people approach you about the car, let them sit in it and see the outstanding features. Tell them how much you are saving and calm their fears about driving an EV. I've talked to many total strangers and let them sit in my car when they approach me with questions.

 

[MarkC]

I just joined the forum today because I wanted to post this comment. I want to buy an electric vehicle but as yet I have not. I am building a 6.8 KW solar array and am looking at all the information I can put my hands on to learn more about the EV's on the market. I want to know if an EV fits my needs. When I buy one, I want to drive emissions free :mrgreen:

That said, a short while back the wife and I went to our local Mitsubishi dealer to look at and drive an i-MiEV. They had two sitting out front and one in the show room. The youngest salesperson they had {looked to be mid-20's} came over and asked what we'd be interested in. When we told him, he looked astounded and tried to steer us to something else, because the i-MiEV wasn't good for much, short range, cramped interior, I could drone on with more. We did drive the car, but in the process he managed to make us wish we hadn't bothered. He did show us how awesome the stereo was with its booming bass. I'm in my 50's and the stereos output is not a primary consideration when making a purchasing decision for me.

Finally, he was unable to answer any of the questions we had about the car. He did not know why the car had a plug in port on both sides at the back. He is one sure example why sales of this little car is less than it could be. Salespeople who don't know anything about the car should not be allowed to talk to potential customers about it. They do more harm than good.

I swill be lurking and learning all I can from you good people.

 

[MLucas]

Hi MarkC, welcome to the forum. Tell us where you are from (unless you are wanted in five states - then closest proximation :lol: ) - that tells us a lot about how this car will perform for you as weather and temperatures greatly affect the range of the vehicle. How far you plan to drive with it and what kind of terrain you encouter on your daily trips all matter as well.

Yes, I agree - that was the worse salesperson ever for the i MiEV! The dealerships hate the electric car, because they make so much money off of the service departments. The car is only the razor, the razor blades are the constant service you need on a gas car (aka I.C.E.). The electric car needs very little service, your first appointment on the i MiEV is like 10 months to a year from purchase.

Don't give up on the i just yet. Yes, you'll find a lot of unfavorable reviews online but you will find some good reviews, too. Those that know the i, love it and understand its benefits. I've had mine since the end of June and have had no issues whatsoever with it, its been absolutely perfect - going above and beyond my expectations. I started looking at the Leaf and after driving the i, I decided to go with the i instead. The i was much more fun to drive and has more usable space than the Leaf. The $6k less price tag sealed the deal, I just didn't need all of those fance instrumentations and doodads that the Leaf offered. I've gone and visited the Leaf forum and there are quality and battery issues with the Leaf that the i has not presented with yet.

Ask any question you like and there are plenty here that will give you their honest opinion.

 

[joev]

Welcome Mark C!
MLucas said it all. We have had ours since July 2, 2012 and just love it!!!
We recharge from our PV system so it was a no brainer to get an EV.
Keep looking at the posts here and you will be able to make a better decision as to the i fitting your lifestyle and expectations.

 

[sandange]

Hi MarkC

When we went into our Mitsubishi dealer closest to us, we asked to talk to a sales person about the I Miev (They had 1 on the showroom floor, ( it ended up to be the one we bought).
This dealership had several locations and they immediately referred us to their other branch several miles away to consult with their specifically trained sales person for the I Mieve .
I our case this rep (Hugo) is an EV enthusiast had answers for all our questions, allowed us to take several Long test rides and has become a some what of a fiend.

Weekly I travel to see family and stop buy the dealership for a free top off Charge and speak with Hugo, exchanging EV news we have recently discovered .
I pass on a lot of info discussed here on this forum and he often share this information with his l Miev clients as well.

If you can, ask to speak with another rep more learned in EV or maybe try to visit another branch that is more helpful.

The group here will certainly be happy to help you with your questions too.

 

[BillThompsonMIEV]

Welcome to the forum MarkC. I took delivery on my MIEV on 31 Jul 12. This forum really helped me in my decision to buy. My experience with sales people was a little better. He had some knowledge. I do not regret the decision to buy, and I even got about a $1,400 discount. Feel free to PM me if you have some specific questions. If you PM me, please include your e-mail address, so I can address your questions more thoroughly. Bill Thompson.

 

[nt2w]

I'll add my "hello" and welcome to the forum, MarkC. MLucas and I have very similar situations and impressions of the car, I bought my i-MiEV June 29 and currently have 2500+ happy miles on it. The car suits my needs very well- my commute is 10 miles round trip which I do between one and three times a day, every day, charging up overnight at Level 2.

Bought the i because it was $5000 cheaper than a Leaf (and didn't have the video-game interior), the range was suitable for my situation, and I wasn't interested in a Volt or PHEV since I've been driving all-electric since 2007 (why go backwards if I don't have to?).

As you lurk, you'll see a lot of conversations developing about winter driving, which should be a good discussion of range vs temperature- the topic has been "hot" during the summer for the Leaf drivers, not so much for us that we can tell.

Your PV installation sounds interesting- PV+EV is really a great way to go if you can swing it- full energy independence! My PV array generates about 2000 kWh a year, which should be good for somewhere between 6000 and 8000 miles of solar-powered driving depending on calculations. The array you're looking at is more than 4x the size of mine so you'll definitely be good for 25k+ miles per year!

Sorry you had a bad experience with the salesman... don't let it bring you down!

Again, welcome!

Rich

 

[Don]

That said, a short while back the wife and I went to our local Mitsubishi dealer to look at and drive an i-MiEV. They had two sitting out front and one in the show room. The youngest salesperson they had {looked to be mid-20's} came over and asked what we'd be interested in. When we told him, he looked astounded and tried to steer us to something else, because the i-MiEV wasn't good for much, short range, cramped interior, I could drone on with more. We did drive the car, but in the process he managed to make us wish we hadn't bothered. He did show us how awesome the stereo was with its booming bass. I'm in my 50's and the stereos output is not a primary consideration when making a purchasing decision for me

Welcome Mark!

It's unfortunate you had such a poor experience at the dealership, but I suspect it's not that uncommon - Ours wasn't much better, though at least they did try to sell us the car we came to look at

It's a completely different technology than anything else they have on the lot (obviously) and Mitsubishi does require any dealers wanting to sell them to get a couple people trained on the car, but I think the real problem is there is very little profit margin for the dealer (or the salesman) when they actually sell one, so they'd much rather steer you toward a cheaper car which they make much more money selling and servicing

We bought our car over 4,000 miles ago in early May and it's turned out to be an excellent choice for us. We have no plublic charging stations anywhere in our neighborhood, but we knew going in that we could do just about anything we needed with the car just by recharging at home, so it's worked out really well - Even if we did have public charging opportunities, it really wouldn't change how we use the car . . . . it would still be much cheaper to recharge it at home

I think if you'll carefully evaluate what you need in the way of local transportation, how far you need to go, whether or not you'll need to recharge at your destination, how many times per day you'll be able to home charge, then you can feel pretty confident going in as to whether or not this car will work for you. With your big solar array, this could be a really inexpensive way to go long term . . . . assuming the car will do what you need it to

I agree with the others - Try another dealership, even if it's one too far away to get the car home from - They might offer to deliver it to you if you bought from them

Don

 

[peterdambier]

I come from looking at a foto taken of our i-MiEV in a trailer park, connected to a power socket. It looks like a computer mouse. It even has got a tail, when plugged in.

A computer mouse that looks like an i-MiEV might make it even more popular. Sending the message here is an electric car you can buy. No more waiting

 

[DonDakin]

Hi all,

Here is my shot at increasing sales.....


I am also a bit concerned about the low sales of the car. As an owner I would like to know that the i will be supported for a long time.

I have to admit that this car is really a niche item, a bit like the VW bug.

There is a certain demographic that is a good match for an iMiev.

This my profile of some of the characteristics of a typical iMiev owner:

You already owned or own a sports car or an SUV or (insert your dream car/truck) and you got it out of your system now your looking for next generation fuel efficiency.

You have a predictable daily commute that is within ~75% of the range of the car.

Your fed up of high gas prices and hate the fluctuations/manipulations of the price.

You want or need a new a second car.

You want a 4 door 4 seater.

You want a big area in the back when you fold down the rear seats.

You have some money and you are willing to pay the premium to have it now, you don't want to wait until it's cheap and common place.

You can balance your driving, Fast short runs when you need it, Slower longer runs when you need that.

You are not risk adverse.

You have an open mind and considering the warranty are willing to take a small leap of faith on the new technology.

You have always dreamed of driving an electric car.

You want to drive electric because you think this the the right thing to do for the planet.

It doesn't bother you if some people "look at you funny".

You appreciate everything that has gone into the i and skinny tires don't bug you.

Your a bit of a minimalist.

You don't mind "explaining your car choice to people."

You like being known as "The guy with the electric car"

You believe that the answer to "You bought a pure electric car, That's risky" is "That's true I might upset my wife at the end of the year when I use the gas saving from the car to buy her a $2000.00 gift. And in the second year I might upset my son, and in the third year....."

You would build your own electric car but by the time you did you would wind up with basically an iMiev and it would cost you around the same.

You want a car that can easily fit in your cramped garage.

You looked at an iMiev, got sticker shock, thought about it, shifted Paradigm, then you did the long term math and you want to have an EV grin now and an EVen bigger smile in 15 years when you look at the odometer and see that you saved $30,000 in gas.


Actually that would be my ad for the car. Now all I have to do is write a script shoot,edit and create a viral video on youtube.....

Seriously,

I don't think the iMiev is for everyone on this side of the Atlantic, but to tell the honest truth I think people are really missing out on something if they are looking for a small second car and don't at least consider an iMiev and the long term saving.

People often say go big or go home. I think the iMiev really does go big in terms of getting you from point A to point B for pennies with all the amenities of a normal car. That's what is does best. If that's what you want then go big.... or in this case small. Purchase an i.

Don........

 

[iMiEVNZ7]

Hi Don,
I agree.

I do think also, that if Mitsubishi were to do like Tesla has, and provide recharge stations and give imiev owners power for free, like Tesla has for Tesla owners, that would be a big incentive, sort of like buy a Toyota Pirus, and we will pay for your fuel for the warranty period of the car !.

Tesla has partnered with SolarCity to do this, and SolarCity in NZ has a grid tied 1, 500 watt scheme for an interest free $ 10, 000 NZ, but when we ask three times for a 5 Kw stand alone unit, not grid tied, we never got a reply back.

We got a reply of sorts, not in answer to the request, but an apology for the delay in replying as they had won a solar hot water heating contract and were flat out.

So, if we as a Hire Company of iMiEVs, could obtain funding to put up standalone solar chargers, and put them on the main tourist routes, with fast chargers and normal chargers together, near out in the country cafes or near places people might have a few hours to spend doing something, I really think the imiev would take off in better sales. Currently still only about 7 imiev's sold after one year or more.

If we buy four as we hope to, that would mean we would own nearly a third of NZ imiev fleet, grin, not counting testing cars in fleet use with councils etc.


Holden are expected to sell that many Volt's in about one month in NZ.

The imev is cute and neat and for most of our office work fine for range, for our hire use, if we could only get another 50 km range at 100 Km/ hr, it would be fine also for tourist hire.

For the long range tourist, we have the Holden V8 and next year, likely a Pirus C.


I would really like to invest $ 40, 000 and make a spare Holden Adventra, into a full electric, even for only around town range of say 70 km. A small firm here can make one for us, but I am worried that servicing a non standard car from a small firm might be harder., with electrical parts.

 

[FiddlerJohn]

... This my profile of some of the characteristics of a typical iMiev owner: ...

Wow. You got me pegged; except, I don't own a garage.

 

[Don]

This my profile of some of the characteristics of a typical iMiev owner

I agree with 95% of that actually

You already owned or own a sports car and you got it out of your system now your looking for next generation fuel efficiency

Not really. I'm keeping my Miata . . . . I've had it 13 years and it's still got only 60K on it. I'll probably own it until I die because it's already pretty fuel efficient and I love driving it

You have a predictable daily commute that is within ~75% of the range of the car

. . . . or you're retired like we are and haved no daily commute, but 95% of the trips you normally make are well within the range of the car

You want or need a new a second car

Actually, we really only 'need' one car, but we already had 3 and they all fit into our garage - We sold one and replaced it with the i

You appreciate everything that has gone into the i and skinny tires don't bug you

Nope - The skinny tires bug the hell out of me. When they're worn out I'll probably do something to rectify that. The tires are the biggest single thing about the car that I don't like

You would build your own electric car but by the time you did you would wind up with basically an iMiev and it would cost you around the same

I almost did *exactly* that . . . . but it would have been an electric Miata (without A/C) which is way less practical than the i, and doing it 'right' would have cost me $20K . . . . and even then, it would still be lacking many of the i's features and safety innovations

Otherwise, you pretty much described me to a 't'

Don

 

[DonDakin]

Thanks,

I guess my point is that the iMiev has a lot to offer to a pretty wide audience.

As early adopter we may be a little different, but the bottom line is that for the masses they are great little commuter cars. I think a lot of people would identify with some of the items in my list.

On the weekend while we were on an extended run into the city my wife told me to stop praising the car. She said "This car totally meets our needs and I have faith in it. So you can stop stop talking about it..."

It was an eye opening comment. First I guess I talk too much but more importantly: She has already gotten past the fact that it's electric and it has re-gen and A/C and blah and blah, she has arrived at: it just works and I don't need to put gas in it... yippie......

It's only a matter of time before more people come to understand this.

Don.....

 

[Don]

Amen

 

[jray3]

Good profile Don- you could write horoscopes ;-P
One thing we could do is pass around the following video link. When a professional automotive journalist is willing to shill for the i, that endorsement oughtta count for something more... AutoWeek Senior Editor (West Coast) Mark Vaughn

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/car_tips&id=8855171

Here's his blog on a 3-month i-ssignment I like his writing, in that he's not too cool to gloss over his ignorances, and takes the reader along on a voyage of discovery. By the end, he's geeking out on the car as much as any good forum member here, genuinely enjoying the i in-between his test drives of a new BMW, the LEAF, etc....

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20100723/CARNEWS/100729951

 

[jray3]

I found a new target market for the car today. Leaving an electrical distributor, there was a posse of homeboys hanging outside a detail shop next door, and they called me over. I'm talking the whole nine yardz- baggy pants draped around heavy boots for steppin', lotsa bling, razor cuts in the hair, and mouths fulla grill. They had never seen such a car, asked the usual (how far how fast how much) questions, and said it would look great airbagged...
I did the nickel tour, motor bay and all, and left 'em all nodding thoughtfully.

DUE PROPS FOR the i !!

 

[Brian]

Hi Don,
I agree.

I do think also, that if Mitsubishi were to do like Tesla has, and provide recharge stations and give imiev owners power for free, like Tesla has for Tesla owners, that would be a big incentive, sort of like buy a Toyota Pirus, and we will pay for your fuel for the warranty period of the car !.

First, I think Don has channeled most EV owners the same way office workers think that the Dilbert author works at their company. The slight change I would make to Don's list for my situation is I first looked at the Tesla and got sticker shock.

But my soap box topic for the day is the recharging stations. Let's document how extensive the existing infrastructure is for charging stations, whether free or paid sites. I have submitted 5 sites to Recargo.com as an example of how easy it can be to spread the word. I can't imagine any dealership that sells EVs not having at least one free EVSE on their property. That means that although the Leaf, Volt, Focus EV, Spark EV, 500e, Soul EV, E-Golf, and the others that are here or are on their way are competitors; their dealerships should be adding to the EVSE infrastructure. Once the quantity and locations are known for existing stations, it may be discovered that the resulting gaps are not too prohibitive.

I think of the remote charging stations, in the eyes of a non-owner, as training wheels on a child's first bike. They are there as a support system until one is comfortable and confident enough to operate without them. The charging stations, to an experienced operator, are more like a refueling tanker for an aircraft-carrier based fighter jet. Before you leave, you plan your trip if you will definitely need one, but you also know where to locate one if something unforeseen happens.
We can't do much about vehicle cost, vehicle style, or availability where future buyers are concerned. But we can have an effect when it comes to range anxiety. Not by changing the range itself, but by educating the public that the range the car provides is typically adequate. And for the times it is not, there is the potential for publicly available stations to be located nearby.