Mitsubishi i-MiEV Attempts Sticker Shock Mitigation: $22k by 2012

In brief: The current $50,000 price tag for the diminutive "jelly bean" i-MiEV from Mitsubishi has many balking, but the car maker says they'll have it down to $22,000 by 2012.

Vehicle in the news

Make/Model: i-MiEV
Manufacturer: Mitsubishi

The word

Currently, the i-MiEV sells for different prices in different countries, with the U.S. and Hong Kong price of $50,000USD leading the pack.

Faced with competition from the pending release of the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt, among others, Mitsubishi is finding interest in their little electric car diminishing.

To counter this, the company is now saying they'll be lowering the sticker price to $22,000 by 2012 as production picks up. A large part of this drop will be due to the batteries halving in price once Mitsubishi's new battery plant goes online in early 2012.

In the mean time, the i-MiEV remains priced well beyond its competition, which are all in the $25-35,000 range.

And so ...

How this affects sales is up to question, but the i-MiEV has been a missed opportunity for Mitsubishi for the past year as hype around the car has died in favor of faster-to-market options like the Leaf.

Photo credits: Wikimedia