That's the simplified argument new EV customers now face following Mitsubishi's decision to start making its i electric vehicle available for lease. The Japanese automaker, which introduced what's known as the i-MiEV overseas to the U.S. late last year, reached an agreement for Ally Financial to offer the i for as low as $249 a month. That's $40 less than lease payments for the Nissan Leaf.
Through Ally, which also has a lease program with General Motors for the Chevrolet Volt starting at $369 a month (some say that makes the car a great bargain), Mitsubishi drivers would pay a $3,498 down payment at the beginning of the 36-month lease, which values the car at its $30,675 MSRP. Earlier this month, Nissan dropped the lease payments for its all-electric Leaf to as low as $289 a month from $349, though it extended the lease term to 39 months and boosted the down payment by $1,000, to $2,999.
In related news, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has given the i four stars (out of five). The break-down is four stars for front impacts and rollovers, three on side impacts. We've got crash test videos below. Two other plug-ins, the Volt and the Leaf, both got five stars overall.
The Mitsubishi i is rated by the EPA to go about 62 miles on a single charge, compared to 74 miles for the Leaf. Mitsubishi has sold 300 i's through the first five months of the year, including a monthly-record 85 in May.
Source: Autoblog Green
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