Mitsubishi Motors has denied a Japanese newspaper report it and partner Peugeotplan to build a compact electric vehicle at the French company’s plant in Spain.
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The Nikkei business daily said, without citing sources, on Tuesday the two automakers will begin production of the vehicle by 2012 and target the European market, without output starting at a few thousand units a year and eventually climbing to 30,000-50,000 vehicles.
But Mitsubishi told Reuters it had no plans for joint production of electric vehicles with Peugeot. It currently supplies versions of its Outlander crossover on an OEM basis to Peugeot and Citroen and is about to start supply of rebadged variants of its Mi-EV electric city car.
The newspaper said the two automakers would market the vehicle to postal firms, freight companies and government ministries and it would likely sell for less than EUR20,000 (US$25,750) after factoring in government subsidies.
The car will be made at the French company’s plant in the northwestern Spanidh town of Vigo on a dedicated production line using Mitsubishi technology from the development of the i-MiEV, the Nikkei said.
Last week, Spanish economy minister Elena Salgado said Spain was in talks with Mitsubishi Corporation about building a factory for electric car batteries in Vigo, PSA’s biggest production site in volume terms.
The EUR400m plant could create around 1,500 jobs, Spanish newspapers reported last week.
Mitsubishi Corp and affiliate Mitsubishi Motors operate a joint venture with battery maker GS Yuasa to develop and make lithium-ion batteries for electric cars. The venture, Lithium Energy Japan, is 51% owned by GS Yuasa.
