Mitsubishi’s tiny iMiEV electric runabout was one of those cars that, when it first came out, didn’t make a ton of sense. For starters, it was undersized. Beyond that, the paint choices were a bit off, 3-spoke rims that were 20 years past their sell-by date, and the interior’s look and feel was terribly, unforgivably cheap feeling. Once you factored in the car’s $30K (plus!) price tag, that awful interior went from “terribly, unforgivably cheap” to downright laughable. That was in 2012.
At the 2014 Chicago Auto Show, however, Mitsubishi showed off an updated iMiEV that featured a leather-wrapped steering wheel in place of the rubbery plastic one, along with heated leather seats, an updated audio system, less outdated matte paint, and good-looking alloys. As if that wasn’t enough to merit a second look from the would-be EV buyer, Mitsubishi has radically dropped the iMiEV’s price every year since its introduction- as of show time, you could buy a new, 2014 Mitsubishi iMiEV for a net MSRP of just $15,495.
Granted, the updated Mitsubishi iMiEV doesn’t have the furthest range or the the best-looking sheet metal in the EV universe- but it’ll get most Americans where they need to go in a given day and do so for about half the price of, say, the $20,000 pricier Ford Focus electric (which, for all its apparent advantages over the iMiEV, lacks any kind of usable trunk).
More features, less money. You’ve gotta love Mitsubishi’s approach- so, if you’re in the market for an EV, I think that you definitely owe the little iMiEV a test drive.
Source: Gas 2.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment