Mitsubishi to triple i-MiEV electric-car output over next 3 years

Mitsubishi plans on tripling annual production of its i-MiEV electric-car over the next years. Company spokesman Yuki Murata said that Mitsubishi will make some 9,000 units of i-MiEV in the upcoming fiscal year starting April 1, around 18,000 in the following year and 30,000 in the fiscal year starting April 2012.

Mitsubishi started selling the i-MiEV in Japan last year. So far it has sold 1,400 units of the electric-car in Japan between July 2009 and March 2010. It sold 250 units during the same period in Britain and Hong Kong.

Sales of the i-MiEV in the United States will start in fiscal year April 2011.

The Mitsubishi i-MiEV provides 100 miles of driving after being charged for seven hours. However it costs a whopping 4.59 million yen ($51,000), more than twice as much as Toyota’s Prius hybrid. Murata said that Mitsubishi is working to bring the price down to the two million yen level.

– By: Kap Shah

Source: The Detroit News