Yeah, I read this article from a link elsewhere. I don't believe it. Mitsubishi saying i-MiEV sales in the U.S. were weak is like the guy who killed his parents throwing himself on the mercy of the court because he's an orphan. Seriously? As far as I can tell, Mitsubishi did approximately NOTHING to sell the car, and my pre-order buying experience seemed designed to annoy and discourage.
What I do believe is that LEJ battery production fell far short of expectations and encountered unexpected quality problems, and after years of preparation Mitsu found itself going to market without enough batteries to meet anything beyond the most minimal demand. If Masuko's latest comments are to be believed, they've got that behind them now for the most part - though that still doesn't explain the maddening delay of the Outlander PHEV's U.S. launch. If they can hit or beat a $40k price point (i.e., the price of an Accord PHEV or Highlander Hybrid, not unrealistic given JDM pricing), it could be a big hit here, having effectively no competition.