iMiev not selling well?

[oahumiev]

Has anyone seen any marketing of the MiEV? Here in NY no one has heard of this car. I've done more to promote this car here than Mitsubishi has!

Nothing so far on TV here in HI but a few small ads in the newspaper. The fact is that Mitsubishi could not meet the demand if they were to heavily market this car, they stated before that they'd be doing a slow rollout in the US for 2012. For the time being word of mouth will be the majority of the marketing done on the Miev. For what it's worth, I see a different Miev a few times a week at charging stations and on the roadways here on Oahu.

 

[fjpod]

I feel the same way. MM has not been advertising the car. I bought one because I happened to go to the NY Auto show and saw it featured there, and said, "damn, somebody finally made an efficient, affordable, reasonably sized EV".

NYC is a funny place. The iMiev is ideal for a place like NYC and it's suburbs, but nobody is taking it seriously. There is absolutely NO charging infrastructure in NY, unless you count the chargers in pay parking lots.

 

[jray3]

Here's a better synopsis of all May EV sales.
http://www.evfinder.com/may_ev_sales.htm

 

[Don]

Great website! - Thanks for the link

They have a listing of just about every electric powered vehicle currently for sale on eBay and there are tons of them! I really like this little van

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2009-Miles-Electric-ZX40S-All-Electric-4-Door-Sedan-/190686215164?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item2c65c8bbfc

Doesn't go very fast or too far, but it would be a prefect fit for those who live in the Florida communities where everyone zips around in golf carts - This keeps you out of the rain and has A/C too!

Don

 

[TaosEV]

About that Miles EV in the ebay listing above:

Buyer beware! A number of these carrying Miles badges did not formally enter the US (meaning they're not certified), and you can't register the vehicle for plates because the VIN won't run. Furthermore, they are LSVs as imported, meaning top speed is 25 mph.

I've driven a Miles, but one that was souped up by a dealer. Stock, they're complete slugs. New motor, controller, and a beefier battery pack, they are tolerable.

Nothing at all like our experience in an i.

 

[Vike]

If I had to guess, I'd say Mitsubishi is deliberately keeping a lower profile on the current i-MiEV because it's got a new model coming, with SCiB battery technology developed by Toshiba. They're selling to EV enthusiasts via social networking, using these early sales to gain experience with the car in the hands of U.S. customers. Any mass market advertising at this point is strictly for halo-generating effects (e.g., the "Normal, EV Town" ads), not i-MiEV sales (if you watch that EV Town ad, it leaves the impression that Normal is the site of an EV experiment that Mitsubishi is conducting, and it's not obvious that these cars are for sale nationwide, no mention of going for a test drive or the MSRP or anything like an actual car ad). I expect the real push will come with an updated i, assuming they conclude from customer feedback that it's worth sending over. Personally, since the current i-MiEV meets my needs as is, I prefer a bird in the hand.

 

[jray3]

If Mitsu is deliberately sandbagging this car for their own reasons, so be it, but it sure would've been nicer to have direct communication with knowledgeable mfr reps. Dealing with ignorant salesmen is par for the course, but once you've paid your money and gotten active in an enthusiast's group, it would seem to their advantage to do more than just surveil this list...
But then again, I'm not aware of any surviving carmaker that takes more than token feedback from their customers...

 

[Vike]

Then again, maybe it's just this (from insideevs.com):

"Mitsu themselves have admitted that they will be losing money on this car, perhaps as much as $8,000 a copy, for at least the first 24 months it is available in the US, putting most of the blame on the high value of the yen."

In other words, how much money do you plan to spend advertising those $100 gold coins you're being forced to sell for $75? For now, I still think the fact that the i-MiEV is available is more important to Mitsubishi than units sold. I pre-ordered mine months ago, and still neither have it nor even a final purchase agreement in hand (though the web site shows it "being built"), making this by far the weirdest automobile purchase of my life.

It's a tough position for Mitsubishi. They developed this model just for North America, but they're stuck building it for pricey yen and selling it for cheap dollars. Worse, Nissan wants to own this business - they've been fairly aggressive in their pricing, and it's only going to get worse when U.S. production comes on line. So Mitsu priced the i where they had to; I know for a fact I wouldn't be buying one if it were $5k more. It also explains the crazy over-pricing for SE trim (2 grand for leather wrap wheel/shifter, alloy tires, different color cheap fabric, and upgraded stereo? really?). I expect any SE and SE Premium units that dealers are foolish enough to let Mitsu ship 'em on spec are going to wind up discounted to move, especially basic SEs. The SE makes approximately zero sense (especially w/no quickcharge available), and the SE Premium is competitive with the LEAF only for toy buyers that fall in love with its distinctive style (I'm sure there'll be some).

We'll see how all this plays out. But I'm not sure how soon anyone else is going to put me behind the wheel of a fully capable 4-passenger EV for the price of a loaded Chevy Cruze, so I'm happy enough to buy now.

 

[tonymil]

There's so little word out about the i MiEV, it's as if it doesn't exist. This article promoting the self-driving Google car discusses the Leaf and the Volt but never mentions the i MiEV. What a shame. Even in the picture gallery there is no picture of the MiEV. Lots of other electric cars show up, some I've never heard of, but not the MiEV.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/06/08/self_driving_car

 

[psyflyjohn]

Bought my Miev several months ago. People still ask what it is and act surprised that it's a Mitsubishi. Living in S. California, I've seen zero advertising in the media. Mitsubishi is doing an excellent job of NOT marketing this car. Why? Who really knows.

An interesting side note: I called a local Mitsubishi dealer in the area (not the one I bought the car from) and talked to the service manager. He was incredulous that I had one! He didn't think they had been delivered to this area yet, and new nothing about servicing it. This is scary....

 

[archie_b]

I live in a midwest state that only has 5 Mitsubishi dealers. Of those 5, only 1 (until a few weeks ago), is certified to sell the i. They have had 2 demos for several months now with no sales. This weekend is the Midwest Renewable Energy Association Fair and clean car show. Upwards of 20,000+ very green consumers attend this event. The parking lot on Friday contained a large variety of fuel efficent cars. The clean car show had Volt, Leaf, Prius, plus other electric, hybrid, diesel, E85 and CNG cars present. The dealer is less than 52 miles from this event. No Mitsubishi i.

Next month is the annual Green Drive Expo. Again, an annual premium two day green event that thousands attend. It is in a city that has 22 free Charge Point recharging stations available and more planned. I've tried for two months to get an i at this event with no response from the dealer. It's hard to sell a car very few people have even heard about, let alone seen. I do not understand their reluctance to attend such events. Especially since they plastered the side of one demo with promotional decals.

 

[alohart]

Mitsubishi's i marketing seems very similar to Honda's marketing when the Insight was introduced in 2000. Few Honda dealers were ever familiar with the Insight because so few were sold. Insight owners have theorized that Honda considered the Insight to be a research vehicle whose real-world experience could be used to improve future Honda hybrids. Because Insights were sold for considerably less than Honda's cost to build and sell them, Honda did not want to sell too many of them, but just enough to provide Honda with the real-world testing data that they desired.

I wouldn't be surprised if Mitsubishi were treating the i in a similar fashion.

 

[Vike]

Because Insights were sold for considerably less than Honda's cost to build and sell them, Honda did not want to sell too many of them, but just enough to provide Honda with the real-world testing data that they desired.

I wouldn't be surprised if Mitsubishi were treating the i in a similar fashion.

Hate to say it, but it's sure looking that way.

What really bothers me about all this is that the low sales figures are used to feed the "nobody wants electric cars" meme. As far as I can tell, the only EV/PHEV that's being manufactured in quantities sufficient to meet demand is the Chevy Volt. The sales of every other EV I'm aware of, including Tesla S, Nissan LEAF, Mitsubishi i-MiEV, Smart ED, Prius Plug-In, Toyosla RAV4 EV, and even the pricey Ford Focus Electric (that Ford's made pretty clear will be strictly a "build to order" proposition), are constrained by supply not demand. Yet for some reason, reports continue to circulate in the mainstream media that sales of EVs are "disappointing". I'd say that for every EV but Chevy's $40k wunderkar, it's the manufacturer commitment that's been disappointing, not consumer appetite. That may change, but until EVs are available in quantities sufficient to have vehicles available for immediate purchase instead of via orders fulfilled only after weeks and months of delays, we have no idea what the demand for EVs really is.

 

[jray3]

Okay, that's enough gloom n doom :mrgreen:
I'm happy to let any corporation (especially a Japanese one) take a loss on my purchase, and very much so if I wind up getting more than my money's worth out of the deal. Original Insight owners got a smokin deal on a great little car. That being said, the i is more than a 'compliance car'; it's been produced in enough volume and sold worldwide so that long term parts and support shouldn't be much of a problem, and it offers more value than the Focus or Fit. Nissan's going for volume and Tesla's going for the gold, so I certainly hope to be able to reward Tesla with my next EV purchase.

If my battery pack outlasts it's warranty and I do wind up replacing it; forget the secondary market for cells, I've got a project list much longer than this pack!

 

[Vike]

I don't want to be misunderstood - I think the i's a great deal, especially in ES trim. So I don't know if I'm so much doomin' and gloomin' as just gripin' and moanin' about the fact that getting hold of one's been such a pain. The i is exactly what I was looking for in an EV, and I'm glad Mitsu's pricing strategy has made it such an easy choice.

The aggregate assessment I get from my reading is that in absolute terms, price aside, the Leaf may be the better car with cooler features, but the i is the better EV. I like to gripe about the price of the SE Premium, and if Mitsu had elected to offer that as their only model, I'd probably buy the Leaf, but not without some serious reservations. It's much easier to impress the friends and neighbors with a Leaf if that's your thing, and it's by far the more comfortable vehicle, especially for all those road trips it doesn't have the range to make :roll:
But it sounds like its EV management software isn't quite as well engineered, resulting in a less useful estimated range meter, something that seems a big deal to me in vehicles with <100 mile range. Overall, I think Mitsubishi had their priorities straight with this car, and I'm happy to give them my business. If only they'd take it . . .

 

[dsmall24us]

The sales of the i were only 33 cars in the US in June. I talked to my dealer and he said there was very little interest in purchasing the i but he had 3 customers possibly interested in leasing.

Dan S

 

[Don]

. . . . just gripin' and moanin' about the fact that getting hold of one's been such a pain

If they were actively marketing it as you would like to see, I bet your wait would have been much longer. I think the problem right now is getting the quantity of batteries necessary to mass market the car. Until they solve that one, I think they're pretty smart for marketing it as they are now - Quietly, via word of mouth. A big advertising blitz which would put many more customers on a 4 to 6 month waiting list sure wouldn't be good for business. When the Mitsu/Yuasa battery factory is up to full capacity and they can make cars faster than they can sell them now, I predict you'll see a more agressive marketing campaign

Don

 

[jennrod12]

I dunno, it didn't seem to hit Nissan or Tesla very hard to have customers on a months-long waiting list.

Jenn

 

[jray3]

Okay, I see Don's point, and a related article follows. If the new battery plant just cranked up in March, they're probably still working out bugs. However, since the Tesla is an 'aspirational' car, they can demand that buyers wait. I think the i is something that would lose a lot of buyers to the Leaf, Fit,or Focus IF those were available in dealer stock nearby.. HowEVer, getting either an i or a Leaf from dealer stock is now easy aroung Seattle. There's a dozen iMiEV listed by local dealers on Craigslist right now.

19 February 2012

Nikkei. GS Yuasa Corp. will bring a new automotive Li-ion battery factory in Shiga Prefecture online next month, with the aim of reducing production costs.


“Through mass production, we will soon lower production costs to a quarter” of what they were when the company first started making such batteries in 2009, said President Makoto Yoda.

The annual output of the factory, which is being built with Mitsubishi Corp. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. at a cost of ¥37.5 billion (US$471 million), will be enough to equip 50,000 Mitsubishi Motors i-MiEV electric vehicles. The plant will make batteries for the i-MiEV and Minicab-MiEV, and for i-MiEV-b ased EVs of France’s PSA Peugeot Citroën Group. A plug-in hybrid to be released in fiscal 2012 will also use batteries manufactured at the plant, according to Mitsubishi Motors President Osamu Masuko.

The partners are also building another plant at the same site for ¥30 billion (US$377 million), with the capacity to power 75,000 i-MiEVs a year.

 

[jray3]

From
http://www.evfinder.com/evsalesjun12.htm
After two straight months of record sales for the Mitsubishi I, sales dropped from 85 cars in May to just 33 vehicles in June. To help offset this they introduced some low cost lease options which should help sales in July. Mitsubishi has sold a total of 328 of its electric subcompact in the US so far.
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