Introduction to Mitsubishi Motors

 At the current moment in time, Mitsubishi Motors is considered to be within the top five of Japanese automakers because of their high production values.  In most of the statistical categories from automobile production to total financial net worth, Mitsubishi usually inhabits a position that places it within the top five in Japan and the top fifteen in the world.  Because of this, Mitsubishi Motors is most definitely a major international player and power broker within the world of automobiles.

 Another thing that has made Mitsubishi Motors an interesting company to study is the fact that they have been very involved in making various financial deals.  Mitsubishi Motors has had several alliances over the years with different companies outside of Japan.  Within the United States for example, Mitsubishi has had a long-standing relationship with the Chrysler Corporation.  Within Europe, they have had relationships with Volvo and Peugeot, both of which are well known European corporations.

 At the same time however, this does not mean that Mitsubishi has been negligent of their home country.  They have had joint ventures with Hyundai going for some time now.  The two corporations are in fact very close in terms of the production that they have done historically; despite what some media clips might lead you to believe.  In short, Mitsubishi is the spitting image of a company that has been historically successful and risen to the top echelon of power within its particular industry.

 The fact that it is owned by a large parent company of the same name that has holdings in many other industries is even more impressive because it means that the company has achieved this kind of success in spite of the fact that the automotive industry was not its only focus.

 Electric Cars at Mitsubishi Motors

 Mitsubishi Motors is not a company that has done a lot of work when it comes to the issue of actually licensing and selling electric cars.  In this respect, it is actually a bit different from many of its fellow Japanese car companies.  A lot of people think that the Japanese were responsible for popularizing the idea of the electric car through the hybrid pathway, but there were companies even in Japan that did not hop on the bandwagon of this particular way of doing things even when it was becoming apparent that the companies that had done it were really onto something as far as tapping into a niche market was concerned.

 For this reason, Mitsubishi has yet to release a full-fledged hybrid or electric vehicle under the banner of its main automobile production products.  However, they do have a small min-car product that is coming out in 2009.  That will represent their first foray into the world of electric automobiles.  It is difficult to tell at the moment whether Mitsubishi has an idea to continue with this particular product line.

 Regardless of whether this particular line works or not, it appears as though Mitsubishi is in the electric industry to stay.  The reason for thinking that is that they have recently made a statement that they plan to offer at least five other electric cars to the public over the course of the next few years.  This is something that is very interesting to behold because of the fact that they were previously not that involved with electric cars.  Most believe that it is a testament to the fact that when the consumer wants something (in this case, electric cars that are eco-friendly), they are likely to get it from all ends.

 The Mitsubishi MIEV

 MIEV stands for Mitsubishi In-wheel motor Electric Vehicle or Mitsubishi Innovative Electric Vehicle depending on who you talk to.  In any case, the MIEV is the newest vehicle from Mitsubishi and represents their first foray into the world of electric automobiles.  This vehicle will be available in the middle of 2009 for businesses and large purchasers, eventually coming to the retail market in 2010 for public consumption.

 Mitsubishi had spent a long time before the introduction of this vehicle essentially ignoring the hybrid and electric industries that were budding up around the world.  For that reason, it is quite possible the company felt the need to enter the world of the electric with a splash.  It is quite possible that the MIEV is intended to do that because it has a very interesting design aspect to it that has a lot of people talking around the water cooler at work.

 It is known as the in-wheel motor, a concept that has been immortalized in the MIEV name that has been given to this class of vehicle.  Basically, the idea behind these vehicles is that the motor is in the wheels.  It is put into the wheel mechanism right with the brakes and is able to generate the necessary torque by directly working on the wheels of the car.  It is a fantastic idea that has the ability to reduce and/or partially mitigate some of the most intense problems that people have been dealing with when it comes to the MIEV.

 For starters, you can use the same method of four-wheel drive that you would use on a regular automobile, but there is no need for transmissions, gearboxes or just about anything else that would come in a normal automobile.  At the same time though, the lack of needing all of these pieces of equipment actually frees things up considerably for people that would like to store things like batteries and other electric components, allowing them to store them under the hood without compromising the structure of the car.  In this respect, the use of the in-wheel motor has actually boldly eliminated some of the major disadvantages of the electric car in its current technological stage.

 The MIEV, when it does come out, is going to be huge because of this fact.  Mitsubishi may well have hit on something very impressive with this particular idea, although it is going to take a number of people driving and trying it out to see if it is indeed something that is worth pursuing.