Mitsubishi celebrate electric decade | Car Talk - Car News Jun 2019

10:35 Monday 01 Jul 2019

Electric vehicle pioneers Mitsubishi are celebrating 10 years of EV motoring.

The market for electric vehicles has grown exponentially over the past decade, so it is easy to forget that when Mitsubishi began trialling the i-MiEV supermini back in 2009 it was considered something of a left-field move from the Japanese carmaker. Twenty-five experimental i-MiEVs took to the roads in Coventry and Birmingham in what was, at the time, the largest ever Government-supported public trial of electric vehicles.

Hindsight proves Mitsubishi were ahead of the game when it came to electric motoring, with the i-MiEV paving the way for the Outlander PHEV which has been the UK’s best-selling plug-in vehicle since it was launched in 2014. Over 200,000 Outlander PHEVs have been sold in that time, almost a quarter of which have been in the UK. The plug-in hybrid SUV offers an official WLTP fuel economy figure of 139mpg with a pure electric range of 28 miles, CO2 emissions of 46g/km, and is on sale priced from £36,755 on-the-road.

Commenting on Mitsubishi’s progress over the past decade, the brand’s UK Managing Director, Rob Lindley, said, “The Mitsubishi i-MiEV has played a significant role in getting us to where we are today. Without it, the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV might not have come to market so quickly or offer drivers such an effective and attractive package. The 10th anniversary of the Mitsubishi i-MiEV really is a great illustration of how Mitsubishi pushes boundaries and strives to innovate.”