Nissan, Mitsubishi Motors vie over EVs with price competitiveness+

YOKOHAMA, March 30 Kyodo -
Nissan Motor Co. and Mitsubishi Motors Corp. began a heated rivalry Tuesday
over electric vehicles, each stressing price competitiveness for their
respective vehicles, as the Japanese market drives straight into the EV era.
Nissan said it will begin selling its Leaf electric vehicle in December with a
starting price of 3.76 million yen, considerably cheaper than EVs offered by
its main rival Mitsubishi Motors, in a bid to lead the market for zero-emission
automobiles.
Mitsubishi Motors, which produces the hatchback i-MiEV, meanwhile, announced
the same day it will cut the retail price for the EV by 619,000 yen to 3.98
million yen, marking the launch of fierce sales competition.
The automaker, which has been selling the environmentally friendly i-MiEV to
companies, will commence marketing the vehicle to individual customers on
Thursday.
Nissan said it aims to sell 6,000 units of the EVs in Japan in fiscal 2010
starting next month. Japan's third-largest automaker said it will start taking
domestic orders from Thursday.
Nissan said the actual price consumers pay for a Leaf will be 2.99 million yen,
based on the assumption that the car will be eligible for 770,000 yen in
government subsidies for EVs, while the price of the i-MiEV is expected to be
lowered to 2.84 million yen with the new retail price if a subsidy is fully
granted.
''We have aimed to sell EVs at reasonable prices from the early stage of
development to help them become widespread,'' Nissan Chief Operating Officer
Toshiyuki Shiga said at a news conference at Nissan's headquarters in Yokohama.
A senior Mitsubishi official, meanwhile, said Mitsubishi Motors decided on the
price cut as it took into consideration rival Nissan's pricing.
Mitsubishi plans to sell 4,000 i-MiEV units in the domestic market and export
5,000 units in fiscal 2010. It has already received pre-orders for 2,000 i-MiEV
units, including orders for 1,400 units from businesses.
Nissan, which is 44 percent owned by France's Renault SA, aims to cut
production costs of the Leaf by mass-producing the car in Japan, the United
States and Europe from around 2012, Shiga added.
Shiga said the EV has ''enough competitiveness'' when compared with
gasoline-powered vehicles, citing EVs' low running costs as they require only
electricity.
During six years of ownership, the electricity cost for the EV, if driven 1,000
kilometers per month, would total 86,000 yen, significantly lower than the
gasoline cost of 670,000 yen estimated to be needed for a car of a similar
class, Nissan said.
The hatchback-type EV, powered by lithium ion batteries, will have a cruising
range of more than 160 km per charge and enough space to seat up to five
people.
To facilitate battery charging, Nissan will install 200-volt chargers at all
its dealers nationwide totaling about 2,200 locations.
Among them, 200 dealers will be equipped with quick-charging facilities, the
automaker said, adding it has developed a new quick charger that is almost half
the current market price of such chargers.
The automaker also plans to market the low-priced chargers, it said.
==Kyodo
2010-03-30 22:35:21