"Source: Initial 1,400 Mitsubishi i-MiEV Electric Vehicles Have Been Spoken For" Green Car Advisor

Source: Initial 1,400 Mitsubishi i-MiEV Electric Vehicles Have Been Spoken For

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. has received pre-orders for all of the 1,400 electric i-MiEV plug-in electric vehicles scheduled to be made this model year, according to someone close to the matter.

The urban electric, zero-emissions i-MiEV launched in Japan in July of this year with the delivery of about 50 i-MiEV four-seaters, running on newly developed lithium-ion batteries, to government, utility offices and companies around Tokyo.

They represent the first of 1,400 of the eye-catching EVs that Mitsubishi expects the sell through the end of this year, when it will ramp up for sales to the general public, first in Japan and then globally. Mitsubishi has said it expects to sell 5,000 i-MiEVs in Japan and export 1,000 in 2010.

Mitsubishi began taking pre-orders for the i-MiEV through its dealer network on July 31 and within one month had received 900 pre-orders, the source said.

The company has said it wants to start selling the i-MiEV in the U.S. sometime in 2011. The automaker sees an opportunity to gain major traction in the zero-emissions-vehicle, or ZEV, arena at a time when many other car companies are focusing on hybrids or fuel-cell vehicles.