Along the road to the future, some good things fall by the wayside. That’s the case with Mitsubishi’s i-MiEV, one of the first electric cars ever to land on Australian shores. Mitsubishi is killing off the i-MiEV to focus on hybridifying (yep, that’s a word) the rest of its vehicle line-up in the next couple of years.
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In an interview with Automotive News, Mitsubishi CEO Osamu Masuko told the website the company would focus on crossovers and 4WDs — like the Outlander — and would introduce more electrified, hybrid drivetrain vehicles like the Outlander PHEV across its small and large car line-up. But the all-electric, 16kWh-battery i-MiEV will be no more.
The i-MiEV was the car that Google went electric with in Australia, and while they’ve been a rare sight on city roads, it’s nice to know that someone other than Tesla had some small commitment to an electric-only city car. Mitsubishi will make an all-electric version of the Outlander Sport, according to Automotive News, and most other cars in the marque’s range should have hybrid drivetrain options alongside traditional petrol. So there’s some light on the horizon, at least. [Automotive News]
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