Today, Mitsubishi announced their plans to cut the price of the i-MiEV in half in by the mid 2010s. They have set a new target price of 2 million yen or about $21,000 including tax breaks and incentives.
Currently, the i-MiEV will hits the streets in April for a purchase price of around $47,000 or 4.6 million yen. The announcement to drastically reduce the price came at the annual shareholders meeting in Tokyo. According to Mitsubishi President Osamu Masuko, the drop in price will come from a boost in demand for fuel efficient vehicles which will lead to cost reductions of related parts.
The i-MiEV is currently available for fleet leasing in Japan and will go on sale to the public in April with a North American introduction scheduled for some time next year.
At the current price, the i-MiEV is still beyond the reach of most drivers. Though Japan does offer significant incentives for buying electric cars, it is still a costly vehicle. If they can reduce the price to one half of the current price, it will be affordable enough for almost everyone.
Mitsubishi is ahead of rival Toyota and Nissan in producing an electric vehicle, but behind Subaru who introduced their Stella EV for sale to the public just a short while ago.
Source: Bloomberg.com
