October start for Mitsubishi and PSA EV
Mitsubishi plans to commence production of a jointly-developed electric vehicle for European consumption three months from nowLook closely at the two cars in these pictures. Both look like Mitsubishi's i-MiEV, but only one is, in fact. The silver car is the Mitsu and the signwritten car is the Citroen C-ZERO.
If they look almost exactly the same, it's because they're both built in the same Mitsubishi factory. The C-ZERO and the Peugeot iOn are both fruits of a joint venture between PSA Peugeot Citroen and Mitsubishi for the Japanese manufacturer to build and deliver badge-engineered versions of its i-MiEV to the two French companies for sale in Europe.
Production will begin in October for a scheduled launch in Europe before the end of this year. In further news, PSA and MMC (Mitsubishi Motors Corporation) announced two days ago that they will also conduct a feasibility study centred on the "development and supply of powertrains for electric vehicles, including an analysis on the packaging of batteries and its business viability".
According to the press release issued by Mitsubishi, this feasibility study will specifically apply to light commercial vehicles. Mitsubishi has already committed the i-Cargo version (also pictured) of the i-MiEV to production in Japan and it's this vehicle that may yet be the foot in the door for sales of electric vehicles around the world.
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