Mitsubishi I-Miev News

Hybrid cars and plans are popping up everywhere, from Porsche and Ferrari at the top end in Europe to the dozens of enthusiastic new carmakers led by Geely and BYD - the name means Build Your Dreams - in China.  We are also seeing far more efficiency in everyday petrol-powered cars, with a range of new technologies to boost economy and cut emissions.A growing number of new cars are now arriving with engine-stop systems for traffic-light efficiency, as well as driver-advisor systems to help pick the right gear. There is an Audi A4 in the Carsguide garage this week which does both and, even with a turbocharged petrol engine, is running fuel economy in the 7 litres/100km range.There is much more to come on the petrol-power front and the Toyota Prius, perhaps surprisingly since it's a hybrid, shows the way. Its 1.8-litre petrol engine is the first in the world without any sort of power-sapping drive belt for the parasitic add-ons, with electrically operated power steering and airconditioning, an on-demand alternator and an electric water pump.Expect all this, and soon, on cars for you.  Diesel engine development is going ahead very rapidly with most European brands - Volkswagen, Audi and Mercedes-Benz among them - touting some sort of Blue technology. So blue is the new green for diesels.The best new diesels are much quieter than in the past and, thanks to the massive advantages of turbocharging, they have huge pulling power. Torque rules in the real world, where you need punch for overtaking and stoplight drags, and that makes diesels the surprising performance choice for a growing range of vehicles.It's easy to go on and on about the engine changes, from Benz's switch from superchargers to turbochargers and BMWs impressive efficiency developments to the small-capacity winners from brands such as Nissan, but the long-term green path is into electric cars.  Australia has yet to see its first commercial electric car but the race is really on now, with Mitsubishi and Tesla expected to both have plug-in cars on the road before the end of the year.An electric Smart will arrive sometime in 2011 and Subaru is keen to have a battery car in Australia as soon as possible, with other brands also working on plans.  But the green machine will run off the rails if governments do not act - and act soon - to give them support. Electric cars need plug-in points, but that's the obvious and easy stuff being pushed today by the Better Place organisation and many others.The real key to sales of electric cars is some sort of Federal incentive, like the ones in Europe and the USA. Nobody by a full-on greenie is going to pay around $70,000 for a Mitsubishi iMiEV when a petrol-powered Colt, which is a similar size and does a similar job, starts from $15,740.Follow Paul Gover on Twitter!

It does not plan to sell the battery-powered compacts, but will lease them to customers for $1740 a month over a three-year term. It intends to take the cars back at the end of the lease, although it could still sell them.Mitsubishi will beat Tesla, an American electric-car start-up which also intends to have its plug-in Roadster on local roads before the end of 2010.  The first iMiEV owners will be decided early in July and Mitsubishi Motors Australia is canvassing potential owners who can help to 'co- promote' the car in Australia.The final deal for the iMiEV was confirmed by Mitsubishi's global president, Osamu Masuko, when he visited Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, infastructure and transport minister Anthony Albansese and climate change minister Penny Wong in Canberra yesterday.  Speaking in Sydney after the meeting, Masuko said the introduction of electric cars and the rate of sales will rely on government investment and support, particularly on establishing fast-charge stations.He stopped short of calling for cash incentives for buyers, but admitted that sales of the iMiEV in Japan and Europe have been boosted by government financial incentives. In Japan, the car sells for around $33,000 after the government incentive.Masuko also said the price of the iMiEV will fall rapidly as production grows from 1400 a year to more than 40,000 by 2012, perhaps even halving within three years as higher volumes allow the company to cut component costs - especially on the battery pack.  "In the long term we cannot rely fully on government incentives," he said.Masuko also used his visit to Australia to confirm two new product plans for Mitsubishi, a new baby car called 'global small' and a plug- in electric SUV which should be ready for showrooms in 2012.

The target price for the first of the Chinese plug-ins is around $25,000, a bottom line which would give the new imports a massive advantage over cars such as the Mitsubishi i-MiEV and Smart, which are expected to have a bottom line beyond $50,000 in showrooms.Several importers are targeting the Chinese electric powerhouse, BYD, but it's the Chery brand which is most likely to hit the $25,000 target with a plug-in city car.  "We want an electric car by 2011," says Neville Crichton, head of the local Chery importer, Ateco Automotive."We plan to have an electric car in 2011 and I'm very confident we will.  The Chinese will be very, very important in the electric car market."Crichton accepts that electric cars will have limitations but he believes it could be a major selling point for start-up Chinese brands.  "If the price is cheap enough, you can do serious volume," he says."If you're going to do electric cars in any volume it's got to be below $45,000. If would have to be in the mid $20,000s to do any volume."  And he is also prepared to take a swipe at hybrid cars, such as the Toyota Prius and upcoming Honda CR-Z, which have yet to win mainstream acceptance in Australia."Hybrids are just a speed hump on the road to electric cars," Crichton says.  The first electric trial cars have already arrived in Australia, with the i-MiEV leading the way and already targeted at Federal and state governments, as well as green-focussed organisations and major city fleet operators.Subaru has also had a plug-in city car in Australia, Mini is planning a local promotional tour and Smart is on-track for sales in late 2011 or early in 2010.  Every major Chinese maker has at least a couple of electric car concepts on display at Auto China 2010 with Geely, which comes to Australia later this year through Perth-based importer John Hughes, dominating the green-power action.Chery also has plug-in concepts, and has a tie-up with the Better Place organisation working on new infrastructure for Australia, but it is the BYD brand which is the target for serious electric-car fans.  The BYD brand - its slogan is Build Your Dreams - is the fifth-largest local maker in China but also the world's second-largest maker of lithium-ion batteries.No-one has the local agency yet for BYD and Crichton is reluctant to commit his Ateco organisation."We talk to everyone. We are not representing BYD," he says.  I can't comment - I'm not about to."

The Mitsubishi i-MiEV’s price has not yet been decided, but it is expected to hit the showrooms next year at a cost substantially lower than its current asking price overseas of about $60,000.Mitsubishi Motors Australia corporate affairs vice-president Paul Stevenson confesses that the price of the i-MiEV "will be expensive up front". However, when the first two vehicles rolled off the ship at the Port of Brisbane recently, outgoing Mitsubishi boss Rob McEniry said it would not be as expensive or as big a premium over comparative-sized cars as the hybrid Toyota Prius."I can't tell you what the price is yet, but the price of electric vehicles is coming down rapidly and that is why we are cautious of saying the price now," McEniry said. "When it gets into volume production it will be affordable - not much more expensive than comparative-sized cars. But running costs will make them cheaper over the whole of the life of the vehicle."Stevenson says Mitsubishi Motors Australia has not been able to get a commitment on volume from Japan yet, which hampered their decision on price."The thing is that over time and not a lot of time as the volume ramps up production meets demand," he says. "At the moment demand outstrips supply so the price is high. As volume ramps up we will see that price decrease."He cited the example of plasma TV technology. "In 2003 a 40-inch plasma TV cost about $27,000 and now they are about $800," he says.Stevenson says government incentives could also help reduce the price and encourage people to go to EV."Mitsubishi is not talking to government with any numeric value in mind, but we are speaking about policy issues," he says. "In France (EV motorists) can use transit lanes, they have special parking spaces and new office blocks have to have recharging infrastructure in place. In Paris there is a range of free public EV charging points for cars and scooters. The Japan government subsidises half the premium over the compatible petrol model and in UK they are offering a $10,000 subsidy for each EV."

Mitsubishi boss Rob McEniry is making that promise as the company's first two electric cars roll off a container ship in Brisbane. The two Mitsubishi i-MiEV (Mitsubishi Electric Vehicle) models have arrived for an 'education and evaluation process' but not for sale, McEniry says. The vehicles will be issued to media and government officials for evaluation and to "start the public education process of future mobility and propulsion". McEniry says 40 more i-MiEVs will arrive later this year. "Governments will be the first customers in the market," he says. "I can't tell you what the price is yet, but the price of electric vehicles is coming down rapidly and that is why we are cautious of saying the price now. By the time the next batch arrives next year we will be ready to tell." "When it gets into volume production it will be affordable; not much more expensive than comparable sized cars. But running costs will make them cheaper over the whole of the life of the vehicle. I can tell you it will not be as expensive or as big a premium over comparative-sized cars as the (hybrid) Prius." Mitsubishi i-MiEV project manager Ashley Sanders says the car could be fully charged off the mains power supply in seven hours and would run for 160km on one charge. A quick-charge station would charge the battery to 80 per cent of its capacity in 30 minutes, but the infrastructure was not available here yet, he says. The 1080kg city car has batteries under the floor which will last 'the life of the car', or a minimum of 10 years, he says. Sanders says the first evaluation vehicle that arrived here last year for homologation and testing had experienced 'no major problems or battery overheating'. McEniry says the i-MiEV will "not only be able to plug in, but take its power when the grid is at its lowest demand. And the next generation model will be able to put back electricity that it has created into the grid at high demand times". The two cars here for evaluation are Japanese specification, but the models to be sold here will be European production models with higher specification. "They will arrive as one spec first up, but as volume increase, we will offer different specs," McEniry says. Queensland Climate Change and Sustainability Minister Kate Jones says drivers could get incentives such as cheaper rego, be able to drive solo in transit lanes and get cheap or free city parking to switch to electric cars. The incentives are being considered under the government's new electric vehicle policy to be released by the end of the year. Jones says the arrival of the i-MiEV would draw attention to Queensland's electric vehicle policy. "We will look at a number of incentives for people to switch to electric vehicles," she says. "We are hoping Queensland can be in the forefront of electric vehicles when they hit the road in 2011. I was one of the first to drive a Prius and I still do, and I will put up my hand to drive one of these." She says electric vehicles would help reduce pollution in big cities. "Personal vehicles represent 80 per cent of the transport emissions in Queensland," she says. "If we see a significant shift to electric cars we would see that drop. Therefore we would look at incentives such as cheaper registration ... use of transit lanes as they do in California and I'm sure Brisbane City Council would look at the issue of (discounted) parking. We do not want to go into this without looking at all the issues. We also need to look at the waste products as part of our policy."

They want Canberra to make a commitment similar to the ones in many other countries, including the recent 5000 pound ($8200) incentive provided by the British government to buyers of plug-in electric cars.The latest British commitment follows support deals in most European countries, from Spain-France-Italy to Sweden-Finland-Denmark. Converts to electric cars in the USA also get a tax break worth between $2500 and $7500 ($2765-8295), depending on the capacity of the battery."Pretty much everywhere else in the world is paying a subsidy. The government needs to look at a general subsidy. That is the only way you're going to get ordinary people into the cars," says David McCarthy of Mercedes-Benz Australia, which intends to have an electric Smart ForTwo in its lineup in 2011. "We'd like to think we can get the electric Smart next year, and Mercedes-Benz is also doing a test on an electric Vito van."Mitsubishi is also pushing hard on the electric front with its iMiEV, as Nissan works towards local sales of the Leaf and Subaru crunches numbers on its plug-in Stella and BMW Group considers both the Mini-E and a plug-in 1 Series.McCarthy says the Smart should be one of the first battery cars on Australian roads but Mercedes-Benz wants to see a commitment from government at all levels. "The running costs on these cars are low, but they are expensive to buy. We don't have an indication yet on the price of the Smart, but it isn't going to be cheap so people do need some encouragement," he says.Most of the planning electric cars will be in the $50,000-$60,000 range in Australia, even though most are tiny city runabouts and several contenders only have two seats. Mitsubishi is planning to join Mercedes in lobbying the Federal government, most likely through the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries."There is an electric vehicle working group in the FCAI, but I don't think the lobbying has started yet," McCarthy says.

Mitsubishi Motors Corp executives in Japan have cast doubts over the rollout of the car to Australian buyers as early as next year.  Mitsubishi Australia has been pushing hard to bring the high-tech i-MIEV hatch early next year after a positive local response to the car several months ago.But the president of Mitsubishi Motors Corp, Osamu Masuko, said an export deal has not been signed.  His views were backed up yesterday by the company2s managing director in charge of overseas operations, Kazuyuki Kikuchi."We do have to look at the support from the governments involved, also because the technology is new and requires a totally different type of infrastructure," Kikuchi said.  "We also need to see the development of those infrastructures in the markets the vehicle will be sold in.  Our electric car business department is looking at the introduction but unfortunately to date we have not seen any strong move from the government about infrastructure or support mechanisms."Unlike France and Norway and other European countries, Australia is not providing incentives to help the rollout of electric infrastructure or even tax incentives for electric cars.  The i-MIEV hatch will not be cheap, with a price expected to be close to $70,000.Mitsubishi Australia boss, Rob McEniry, said the company has had strong support from State governments and various local councils, as well as private companies who want the car.  He said the company was still on track to launch the car, despite Japan2s concerns."We have heard nothing to the contrary that we won2t be able to get it," he said.  The i-MIEV hatch will not be cheap, with its price expected to be close to $70,000.  It has a range of 160km and can be recharged to full power overnight or via a fast-charging station that can provide 80 per cent capacity in just 45 minutes.

We’ve blended all the highlights in a one-minute tasting plate. All the glamour, all the glitz and definitely all the green gadgetry.The LF-A is being touted as the new Lexus sportscar and expected to go up against Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche and other high performance supercars.Apart from these almost-production ready coupes, the show is shaping up to be a restrained affair as carmakers continue to battle the fallout from the global financial crisis. Just three smaller foreign brands, Caterham, BMW Alpina and Lotus are attending this year.In 2007 26 foreign brands lined up with the Japanese carmakers at the show. Despite the low attendance by carmakers, Tokyo is traditionally a show full of quirky city cars and concepts. Electric cars, from plug-in hybrids to full-blow electric vehicles remain popular, following on from the green theme at this year's Frankfurt Motor Show.What's Hot:TOYOTAFT-EV II: This is the second generation of Toyota's electric car concept with a futuristic edge. Drive-by-wire technology and a solar panel on the roof give this urban commuter a distinct edge. Looks a little like the iQ sold in Europe. FT-86 Concept: Look beyond the lines are you'll see Toyota's new Celica. The rear-drive compact sportscar will borrow Subaru's 2.0-litre boxer four.CATERHAMThe world debut of the CSR 175 EU4, a more powerful version of its CSR.LEXUSThe much talked about LF-A is rumoured to get a 370kW V10, making it the most powerful production Lexus made. The front "mid-engine" layout is said to deliver outstanding handling.SUBARUThe Hybrid Tourer Concept is being touted as a new incarnation of the SVX. We hope for Subaru's sake it will not carry the SVX tag if it every makes it into production. The Tourer is far more attractive and practical. The gullwing coupe combines the boxer four-cylinder with hybrid power. A pair of motors provide regenerative braking, pure electric drive or a combination of both. Apart from showcasing the hybrid drivetrain, the concept also has a new direct injected version of its 2.0-litre four cylinder engine, which is likely to appear in a few years.HONDALike many carmakers, Honda has spilled the beans on some of its cars. The CR-Z concept is the close to production ready version of its hybrid coupe, powered by a petrol 1.5-litre four cylinder and the same electric powerpack we see in the Civic hybrid. The Skydeck is a futuristic six-seater hybrid using ultra-light weight materials. The big wagon may provide a pointer to what the next-generation Odyssey might look like. Inside, the Skydeck has "floating" slim-line seats with entry provided by huge opening gullwing doors.NISSANCarmakers love motorcycle-inspired cars. Nissan has lifted the wraps off its Land Glider, a compact four-wheel city commuter car. The two-seater uses electric motors and the driver and passenger sit in tandem, like a motorcycle. The car also leans into corners.SUZUKIWith green a continuing theme, Suzuki's Swift hybrid is a pointer to a new plug-in hybrid for short-distances.MAZDAThe Hiroshima-based carmaker has concentrated on its new Sky Concept to showcase a new Sky-G petrol and Sky-D diesel engine, as well as a new six-speed automatic gearbox.MITSUBISHIDo not think of the Concept PX-MiEV as a new off-roader. Mitsubishi says the PX crossover just houses a new plug-in hybrid system that gets around 3.0 litres/100km. Apart from its drivetrain, the interior uses seat upholstery that kills bacteria and gets rid of offensive odours. The i-MIEV Cargo is also a new commercial van concept taken from the i-MIEV electric car.SUZUSHOYou may not have heard about it but this Japanese kit car specialist has combined a tuned 200kW 2.3-litre turbo engine from the Mazda3 MPS and a lightweight body to deliver a hot-shot sportscar, the Supasse V. The V gets an aluminum twin-tube monocoque spaceframe chassis with a fiberglass body. Suzusho is a specialist builder of lightweight sportscars with a great deal of experience with Lotus 7 replicas. The Supasse is expected to sell in Japan for around $80,000. 

The Japanese automaker showed off its tiny electric vehicle in full police livery at the recent National Police Show in the UK. Mitsubishi says it has "inundated" with requests from British police departments to put the vehicle through local trials. The first i-MIEV police package will be used by the West Midlands Police.

But the i-MIEV-based Cargo remains a wish-list car for the Adelaide-based local Mitsubishi operations. Mitsubishi Australia's chief of brand management, Paul Unerkov, reckons the Cargo would have great potential locally.But with demand for the i-MIEV already outstripping supply in Japan and the factory running flat out to build batteries for the city car, he says any prospect of a Cargo-style electric van being sold locally are a long way off. "The Cargo could certainly work here," he says. "But the issue is battery supply. "Mitsubishi is tripling production of the batteries for the i-MIEV to meet demand."Demand for the i-MIEV in Japan has also meant its arrival into local showrooms has been pushed back to the first quarter of next year. But Mitsubishi Australia chief, Rob McEniry, is confident he will get the numbers he wants and the car will arrive with a price point close to the Toyota Prius. "We are working on our allocations now," he says.The Cargo, along with the PX-MIEV concept all-wheel drive, will be unveiled at next week's Tokyo Motor Show. Like the i-MIEV, the Cargo should have a range of 160km and top speed of 130km/h, making it perfect for inner-city delivery applications.At 3395mm long and 1860mm high, the van is 36mm longer and 260mm higher than the cute i-MIEV. By reconfiguring the rear area Mitsubishi has been able to free up 1743 litres of space.Like the four-door, the Cargo has copied the original's curvaceous front section. But from the B-pillar back, the electric car morphs into a high-riding boxy wagon that gives it a distinctive on-road presence. The car's big plus is its boxy load-carrying area. Mitsubishi has ensured that every centimetre of available space has been utilised. The height of the compartment floor has also been designed to facilitate loading and unloading of luggage and make it more user-friendly. Inside, the cabin shares the clean and simple elements of the i-MIEV.The i-MIEV's electric engine develops 47kW/180Nm and drives the rear wheels. Its permanent magnet synchronous engine is supported by a lithium-ion battery pack from the newly formed joint venture company Lithium Energy Japan. The car can be recharged overnight or in about 30 minutes using a quick-charge outlet.