Mitsubishi’s Electric Only i-MiEV To Be Discontinued
By Paulo Acoba
Mitsubishi has a revival plan for the United States that focuses on crossovers and Hybrid variants with models like the i-MiEV being cut.
First introduced to the U.S. market just a four years ago, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV was that quirky electric-only offering from Mitsubishi that hardly sold all that well compared to other electric offerings. In November, Mitsubishi only sold a total of four units in the United States. Now it stands to reason, according to an exclusive interview with Osamu Masuko (CEO of Mitsubishi) procured by Automotive News earlier Monday that Mitsubishi has a revival plan for the United States market. This revival plan doesn’t involve the Mitsubishi i-MiEV. Suffice to say, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV has reached the end of its line.
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Base MSRP for one of these electric-only oddities of modern day motoring set you back $23, 845 without taxes. For that chunk of cash you got a plug-in only vehicle good for around 62 miles of range with lackluster performance that saw 60 MPH come and go in 13 seconds thanks to a minuscule 66 HP equivalent electric motor. With a top speed of 80 MPH, freeway jaunts were few and far between for the bravest of i-MiEV owner.
It sat four full-size adults, had air conditioning and heated front seats and had a smooth ride and lively steering so it wasn’t all that bad.
Instead, Mitsubishi will solely focus on its crossover offerings. That means a new small coupe-tyled crossover that will fit between the Outlander and Outlander Sport sometime in 2017, a redesigned Outlander Sport in 2019 with a possible EV only variant and a redesigned Outlander with a plug-in hybrid variant in 2017.
2012 Mitsubishi i-MiEV
2012 Mitsubishi i-MiEV
2012 Mitsubishi i-MiEV
2012 Mitsubishi i-MiEV
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So if you ever were in the market for an i-MiEV, it wouldn’t hurt to start shopping around with a couple lingering in lots and demand almost non-existent.
We think discontinuing R&D on electric car technology might hurt them in the long-run. When the Tesla Model 3 comes out and possibly reveals a market for small, affordable electric only cars as being in demand, Mitsubishi might attempt and about face and kick start this once dead program.