The first i MiEV will be on the Mitsubishi stand at the Melbourne Motor Show from February 27. Photo Gallery
The first plug-in electric car for Australia is the Mitsubishi i MiEV.
The tiny battery-powered city car has been confirmed this week for local trials in February, edging out upcoming electric contenders from Smart, Nissan, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
There is no firm sales plan yet, but Mitsubishi Motors Australia is keen to turn the i MiEV trial into much more than just a dummy run — with genuine local deliveries sometime in 2010.
"We are going to do this. We're the first ones to put it out there," says Rob McEniry, managing director of Mitsubishi Motors Australia.
"There is a lot of talk about electric vehicles, but this will test the true appetite. We'll see whether it is factual or just fluff.
"We are ready to go for 2010, if the price is right and the market is there."
The first i MiEV will be on the Mitsubishi stand at the Melbourne Motor Show from February 27, with a second car setting out soon after for a national tour of politicians, governments and major fleets.
McEniry says there will be an even bigger event before the end of the year before Mitsubishi decides if it will go ahead with sales in 2010.
"This is not a 'might be', this is a 'what is' from Mitsubishi. We'll have a car on the stand at the motor show and another ready for driving," he says.
"Later in the year we want to bring some more cars out for some customer evaluations. That will be fleets and things that can spend a bit of time with the vehicle. This is very much market testing. This will be the real thing that's in the market today in full trial in Japan."
McEniry believes there will be demand for the i MiEV — which can be charged from a regular household power supply — but is not sure yet on the reaction to buying and running a car in the real world.
"We're going to take the car around Australia and allow various groups to see the vehicle and give us some feedback. We're very interested in what they have to say," he says.
The big questions are the price of the car, the warranty back-up and the infrastructure needed to support any sort of serious fleet of electric cars. McEniry is well aware of the challenges and preparing to work through them in time to get the i MiEV into showrooms.
"We know the target price, but we won't talk about that for the moment. Initially it will need some support form the customer base, if it's a government department or fleet," he says.
"It depends on the demand. We might do it on a lease. We're really not sure yet."
While there is uncertainty on the showroom plan for the original i MiEV, a five-door hatchback based on a Japanese city car, Mitsubishi is pushing into the next phase of its electric car program.
It will unveil a second i MiEV, this time an electric sports car, at the Geneva Motor Show in March.
The newcomer — called the i MiEV Sport Air — shows that the electric cars could become a whole new family for Mitsubishi, with the potential for more than just short-haul commuter work.
The Sport Air uses Mitsubishi's latest lithium-ion batteries and a high-torque engine for sports car acceleration.
It says the idea is to go beyond a green car to something people also want to buy for driving, thanks to low weight, strong acceleration and good cornering grip.
But Mitsubishi is keeping quiet on the details, beyond releasing two sketches which show the thinking behind the design of the Geneva Show car.
