A report from Japan noting Mitsubishi hopes to reduce the U.S. cost of it's Imiev BEV to about two million yen ($22,000+) when it goes on sale, and that's before the $7,500 credit?

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/business/news/20100116p2a00m0na011000c.html?inb=rs&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:%20mdn/all%20%28Mainichi%20Daily%20News%20-%20All%20Stories%29

A report from Japan noting Mitsubishi hopes to reduce the U.S. cost of it's Imiev BEV to about two million yen ($22,000+) when it goes on sale, and that's before the $7,500 credit?

Well, the article said "in several years", not at launch.

You also forget that Mitsubishi i(base platform of i-MIEV) is a cheap kei-car(microcar) priced around $10K in Japan to begin with.

Well, the article said "in several years", not at launch.

You also forget that Mitsubishi i(base platform of i-MIEV) is a cheap kei-car(microcar) priced around $10K in Japan to begin with.

Yes the article is vague about when the Imiev will be sold for $22,000. is it at the time production is increased for U.S. sales or years afterwards?

Mitsubishi has time to watch what happens with U.S. sales and pricing of Nissan's Leaf and GM's Volt. I've seen the Imiev, it's cute but small, about the size of a Smart car.

Yes the article is vague about when the Imiev will be sold for $22,000. is it at the time production is increased for U.S. sales or years afterwards?
Years afterward.

Mitsubishi Motors isn't in a good financial health and can't afford to lose money on i-MIEV for the first 5 years like Toyota did with Prius.

“ … I've seen the Imiev, it's cute but small, about the size of a Smart car… “ – srschrier

Yes, it is cute… Its base, the Kei-class “ i “ was originally planned as the successor to Smart when Daimler Benz (Chrysler) was a stakeholder (34%) in the Mitsubishi Motors. While Daimler was there it (Daimler in Germany) did not buy the idea of electrification of the “ i “ and Mitsu engineers had to proceed with the development as a skunk work.

It looks like range anxiety is one of the major negative point of EV’s in general. But, automakers do not have choice but having zero-emission vehicles in their fleet to dilute their CAFE to meet the new California (35 MPG) and European (45 MPG) regulations. Limited range is not too much of a problem for fleet operators including government and other institutions that want to emit the “green” image to the public. Mitsu is going to OEM iMiEV to PSA. Nissan is to supply the Leaf to Renault. Who knows the start up companies like Tesla will eventually bought out by GM as they (Tesla) prepare a range of zero-emission vehicles. Or, maybe BYD will merge with GM as the easiest entry to the U.S. market.