Are Electric Cars Coming to Your Dealer? It Depends Who You Ask

By Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield

Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield

Contributing Writer BIO

Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield is a self-confessed petrol head. She grew up in a carless family but was able at a very early age to name cars passing her on... More

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Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car - front - December 2008

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What happens when you take a single electric car and distribute it through three different dealers in the same city?  On paper we’d assume that three dealers vying for customers looking to buy the 2011 Mitsubishi i would breed healthy competition, lower prices and excellent deals. 

Unfortunately for the masses of would-be electric car owners that may not be true. In fact, we’re more convinced than ever that it’s not the automakers but the dealers who are causing problems for electric cars.  

We visited three different dealers nearby, all of which will sell the Mitsubishi 'i' in one guise or another. Their employees ranged from clueless to competent, with one telling us our area would be a hotspot for companies and individuals wanting an electric fleet while another made the remarkable (and entirely wrong) assertion that there was no way an electric car could possibly cope with life outside of the metropolis of London.

But first, let us explain a strange quirk of the auto-market which is prevalent in Europe but less so in the U.S.: badge engineering.

Just about every automaker does it. Take one car and then produce it in collaboration with another automaker. Then rebadge the car according to who is selling it. 

Everything from city cars to SUVs and minivans are produced in this way, lowering costs and ensuring customers can remain brand-loyal while getting the car they want. 

Enter Mitsubishi. Its 2011 Mitsubishi i - still known in Europe as the i-MiEV- is a European-spec modification of the original Japanese car. But when Mitsubishi start selling the car later this month it will also be rebadged for sale via the French automotive group PSA Peugeot Citroen. 

Mitsubishi i-MiEV electric car - interior - December 2008

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Sold Europe-wide, the Mitsubishi i, Citroen C-Zero and Peugeot iOn may look slightly different externally but the technology beneath the dealer-specific body panels is identical, from the chassis to the drivetrain and battery. 

The European specification 2011 Mitsubishi i-MiEV is set to retail for exactly the same price as the 2011 Nissan LEAF. However, the LEAF enjoys a higher spec list, as well as one extra seat and much larger trunk space. 

Top speed will be electronically limited to 80 mph, with range predicted to be 80 miles per charge.

Interestingly, the PSA variants will both be available as lease only, with no option to buy. PSA also displays range as being 93 miles - an interesting phenomenon since the C-Zero and iOn are identical to the i-MiEV. 

Enter our test city, Bristol, U.K.  Would our dealers, each focusing on a specific rebadged car, offer us any insight into the i, C-Zero or iOn.

To find out,  we visited each in turn, asking the same questions: 

• Could we have details of their electric car?
• When did would test-drives be possible?
• When could we order one?

Citroen 

On being asked about the Citroen C-Zero the salesman launched into a diatribe of why the C-Zero wasn’t a great car, would primarily be sold in London rather than anywhere else, and certainly wouldn’t be coming to his dealership. 

It was almost a repeat of our experiences at an untrained Nissan dealer earlier in the year. 

Our local Citroen dealership?  Unconvinced of electric cars, cynical and more than disparaging of anyone with enough money to spend on a C-Zero. Tried selling us a gasoline sedan instead. 

Report Card? F- = A very poor end to 2010.