The tiny battery-powered city car has been confirmed this week for local trials in February, edging out upcoming electric contenders from Smart, Nissan, BMW and Mercedes-Benz.
There is no firm sales plan yet, but Mitsubishi Motors Australia is keen to turn the i MiEV trial into much more than just a dummy run — with genuine local deliveries sometime in 2010.
"We are going to do this. We're the first ones to put it out there," says Rob McEniry, managing director of Mitsubishi Motors Australia.
"There is a lot of talk about electric vehicles, but this will test the true appetite. We'll see whether it is factual or just fluff.
"We are ready to go for 2010, if the price is right and the market is there."
The first i MiEV will be on the Mitsubishi stand at the Melbourne Motor Show from February 27, with a second car setting out soon after for a national tour of politicians, governments and major fleets.
McEniry says there will be an even bigger event before the end of the year before Mitsubishi decides if it will go ahead with sales in 2010.
"This is not a 'might be', this is a 'what is' from Mitsubishi. We'll have a car on the stand at the motor show and another ready for driving," he says.
"Later in the year we want to bring some more cars out for some customer evaluations. That will be fleets and things that can spend a bit of time with the vehicle. This is very much market testing. This will be the real thing that's in the market today in full trial in Japan."
McEniry believes there will be demand for the i MiEV — which can be charged from a regular household power supply — but is not sure yet on the reaction to buying and running a car in the real world.
"We're going to take the car around Australia and allow various groups to see the vehicle and give us some feedback. We're very interested in what they have to say," he says.
The big questions are the price of the car, the warranty back-up and the infrastructure needed to support any sort of serious fleet of electric cars. McEniry is well aware of the challenges and preparing to work through them in time to get the i MiEV into showrooms.
"We know the target price, but we won't talk about that for the moment. Initially it will need some support form the customer base, if it's a government department or fleet," he says.
"It depends on the demand. We might do it on a lease. We're really not sure yet."
While there is uncertainty on the showroom plan for the original i MiEV, a five-door hatchback based on a Japanese city car, Mitsubishi is pushing into the next phase of its electric car program.
It will unveil a second i MiEV, this time an electric sports car, at the Geneva Motor Show in March.
The newcomer — called the i MiEV Sport Air — shows that the electric cars could become a whole new family for Mitsubishi, with the potential for more than just short-haul commuter work.
The Sport Air uses Mitsubishi's latest lithium-ion batteries and a high-torque engine for sports car acceleration.
It says the idea is to go beyond a green car to something people also want to buy for driving, thanks to low weight, strong acceleration and good cornering grip.
But Mitsubishi is keeping quiet on the details, beyond releasing two sketches which show the thinking behind the design of the Geneva Show car.
Although put on hold `indefinitely’ last week, GM-Holden chairman, Mark Reuss, has not ruled out the premium GM brand being sold here at some point in the future.
Announcing the decision last week to delay the Cadillac launch, Reuss says the brand is still on the company's books.
"We'll revisit it on a month-to-month basis," he said.
Reuss believes that when the car market picks up, possibly at the end of this year or early next year, the Cadillac file will then be dragged out again.
GM-Holden was just weeks away from launching the CTS sedan, to be followed by a wagon, coupe and possibly four-wheel drive.
They would have been part of GM-Holden's Premium Brands, which includes the troubled Hummer and Saab brands.
Reuss says the Cadillac decision was taken because of the global car crisis.
"It was a tough decision personally because in my prior life I had a lot to do with developing what is now the Cadillac portfolio as an engineer and development engineer," he says.
"The reaction at the Sydney motor show was very positive when we showed the sedan and the coupe."
Reuss says GM-Holden was not "100 per cent able" to do the brand or the car justice in a tough market and tough global economy.
"So we're electing not to launch Cadillac with the risk of things happening that would not be as positive as we would like for the car and the brand here," he says.
Reuss says the company had one shot at doing Cadillac well.
"We have to be able to do it from both a human and finance resource standpoint that the brand and the car deserves and right now we aren't able to do that."
General Motors is facing a tough road ahead and Reuss admits that this is following through to GM-Holden.
"So we have to make some tough calls and good calls on where we focus the resources we have," he says.
"In Australia we are focusing everything we have on our core fundamental activities."
GM Holden had already appointed 14 dealers nationally and three in New Zealand to handle the Cadillac franchise.
Reuss said discussions are being held with two dealers over compensation for some of their investment.
"We're prepared to work through those issues with the dealers," he said.
GM-Holden had already certifyied 89 CTS sedans for sale but these cars will now be on-sold into other right-hand drive markets.
The Cadillac delay may leave the way open for a third-party grey importer to bring some cars in.
Porsche's most spectacular production is a sleek, spacious, ultra-modern and futuristically-styled masterpiece.
In comparison with its four-wheeled namesakes, it shares everything but performance.
The Porsche Museum, sited on a roundabout opposite the factory in outer-Stuttgart's Zuffenhausen estate and adjoining the company's humble 1948 wooden workshop, is a temple for followers of motor sport, admirers of Porsche and lovers of cars.
So vast is the Porsche Museum audience that despite its whopping $200 million cost, it could even contribute to the company's future bottom line.
Klaus Bischoff, one of the museum's curators and a regular visitor to Australia with Porsche museum cars, said the futuristic Italian-designed building housed 80 cars and yet displays would draw from a collection of 403 machines.
He expects 200,000 visitors a year when it opens this week (January 31) to the faithful and the curious with adult entry at $16.
Comparisons will be drawn with Stuttgart's other car museum, the Mercedes-Benz tower. But they are, like each company's philosophy, quite different.
Even Porsche aficionados will be staggered by the contents of the museum.
The curious, with only a remote sense of the company, will be impressed by a collection that includes its founder's late-19th century foray into electric vehicles — pertinent given Porsche's soon-to-be-released petrol-hybrid models — and breadth of race campaigners.
But perhaps more impressive is that the 5600sq.m Porsche Museum replaces a room of 20 cars that, until now, was Porsche's only attempt at showcasing its past.
It indicates the growth of Porsche but more importanty, a new-found opportunity to look back on itself.
Porsche has found time — and since the completing its takeover of Volkswagen, the funds — to reflect.
It admits that the $200 million museum comes at a depressed time in a sales yet it points out that it believes this is a blip and that better times are soon ahead.
Technically the museum started four years ago and construction started a year later. The exhibits are basically on one level though ramps and stairs invite guests to explore.
Pride of place in the 100-year-plus journey is a roughened aluminium bodyshell with Porsche-trademark teardrop lines.
This is the Type 64, built in 1936 by Ferdinand Porsche to house an eight or 12-cylinder engine. It was one of three handmade by German coachbuilder Reutter and despite its appearance, has nothing to do with the creation of the Volkswagen.
Three Type 64s were made but only this one — the third — was used by Ferdinand Porsche for inter-country travel.
After winning the contract to build a people's car the plans for a sports engine were dropped and it was fitted with a 24kW 1.1-litre unit destined for the Volkswagen to become a mobile testbed.
It was destroyed after WWII by the Americans — according to Mr Bischoff — and only recently started on its long journey of restoration.
The Type 64 was the first car to be fitted with the Porsche name yet this didn't happen until after the war.
Ferdinand Porsche trained as an electrical engineer in the late 19th century though expanded into the internal combustion engine and extended into all aspects of automobile engineering.
Though known as the father of the Volkswagen, it was his son Ferry who was the father of the Porsche.
Ferry built the Porsche "Number One" in Austria in 1948 as a car for himself with no intention for mass production.
The mid-engined two-seater roadster, with a Volkswagen engine upped to 30kW from 16kW, became so desirable by car buyers at that time that production became reality.
But for production reasons and a need for extra seating put the engine behind the rear axles — where it remains today on the 911 — and a roof was added.
Only 52 of the 356 models — handmade in aluminium — were built in Austria before the business moved in 1948 to the Zuffenhausen site and started car building in 1950.
Ferry counted the first mid-engined car and the 1947 Cisitalia as the most important of his creations.
The Cisitalia was a design brief given by a rich Italian businessman who wanted a greater Italian presence on the Grand Prix race tracks and the podiums.
In an era of huge, front-engined race cars, the Porsche-designed racer defied the trends. It was relatively tiny and had a supercharged 1.5-litre 12-cylinder engine placed behind the driver.
The nose section was short and the low weight and its balanced distribution of the car made it an instant hit. An optional drivetrain could make it an all-wheel drive.
The Cisitalia made Porsche wealthy enough to make his first car, the 356.
"If the Cisitalia didn't work, there would be no Porsche today," Mr Bischoff said.
Displays run through Porsche's production car and race car history. As a sampler: 1953 America Roadster — Built for the US market and the precursor to the Speedster, this had a 1.5-litre 51kW engine and weighed only 605kg. 1959 Type 754 — The prototype of the 911 was designed by Ferdinand Porsche (grandson) as a four-seater. His father disagreed and it became a 2+2. The first 911 appeared in 1964. 1960 718RS60 Spyder — the 118kW ancestor to the current Boxster that in 1960 won Targa Florio and the 12 Hours of Sebring. 1962 804 — the last pure-bred GP winner from Germany won drive Dan Gurney the GP of France. It had a 1.5-litre 136kW eight-cylinder engine and all-wheel disc brakes. 1964 904 Carrera GTS — First fibreglass Porsche that had a 2-litre 178kW eight-cylinder engine but also ran with four and six-cylinder units depending on the race. Won Targa Florio in 1964. It was designed to close the gap between Porsche's racing and production cars and therefore became the precursor to the 911. 1970 917 Gulf oil racer — Had a 4.9-litre 463kW V12 engine and averaged 249km/h at Spa in 1970. Nicknamed "Taxi" because of the volume of people who drove or were passengered in it. 1973 917/30 — One of the most powerful ever made, this 882kW 5.4-litre flat-12 ran to 385km/h driven by Mark Donohue and was so good the US race officials changed the rules to expel it from competing.
There is also some of the gifts made by Porsche to Ferry and Ferdinand such as a four-door Porsche 928 wagon and a four-seater 911.
Displays include cut-away 911 models, automobilia with a Porsche theme over the decades, the first Porsche diesel — don't get overly excited, it's a tractor — and its 1956 Jagdwagen 4WD military jeep.
In addition, there is a glass-encased workshop where customers and museum cars are restored, and a top-class restaurant.
Sales of the British brand have jumped by eight per cent since the all- new, mid-sized XF arrived in 2008 and now it is going to get its own boost.
The kick comes from the supercharged 5-litre V8 engine in the flagship XFR which was unveiled at the Detroit Motor Show ahead of local sales in the second half of the year.
The XF is the latest Cat to get the R-car treatment and the pattern is predictable and positive: a major engine upgrade, body bits, bigger wheels and brakes, and some mild tweaking in the cabin.
The R-car work has already done the job for Jaguar's XK sports cars and the flagship XJ and the company is expecting a solid response in Australia.
"One of the problems we've had in the past is under-calling the demand for the R models. With the XK, around 65 to 70 per cent of demand is for the R," says David Blackall, the managing director of Jaguar Land Rover Australia.
"So the R cars have done well in Australia. People tend to gravitate to the best, particularly when they are paying for a Jaguar."
The starting price for an XF in Australia is now $108,350 with a V6 engine, but jumping all the way to the XFR is going to mean close to double the price. And that is likely to keep the car exclusive.
"The car is probably going to be around $200,00 and we reckon if we can do 25 it will be a good result," says Blackall.
"In Normal times I would like to sell 50, so with the market the way it is hope to do 25 to the end of the year. In any case, we want to keep it as exclusive as we can."
Blackall is also concerned to keep demand for the XF SV8, which comes with a 4.2-litre V8 at $173,170, moving along until the R-car hits.
"A lot of this is going to depend on how quickly we can get the XFR.
We've still got some SV8s, although not too many now.
"We are targeting around the middle of the year for the R."
The XFR was shown in Detroit with trendy white bodywork, which does not look nearly as tough as the jet-black colour normally used for Jaguar's hero cars.
But there was a matt-black XFR on the back of the stand which had just returned from a record run on the Bonneville salt-flats in the USA, where it was clocked at 363km/h to become the fastest car in the company's history. Of course, it had some tweaking . . .
The production XFR has 375 kiloWatts from its supercharged and direct- injection V8, as well as 624 Newton-metres of torque. If the numbers sound a little familiar, they match the output of the V10-powered BMW M5.
Power is fed to the rear end through a six-speed automatic gearbox with a new active differential, with the car's electronic controls including a 'drift' setting for a little rear-end slide.
Body changes run from the predictable front air dam and rear spoiler to the R cars' signature chrome mesh grille, with extra bonnet vents to cool the engine.
The XFR has been dropped 27 millimetres lower than the SV8 with Bilstein suspension, upgraded brakes and four exhaust tips under the tail.
Inside, the seats have more side support, there is upgraded trim and some R-car logos, as well as the acoustic laminated windscreen and upgraded satnav common to the latest XF range.
The bottom line on the go-faster XF is a car that has 23 per cent more power and 12 per cent more torque than its 4.2-litre V8 predecessor.
That means it jumps to 100km/h in just 4.7 seconds and has to be held back to a top speed of 250km/h.
But Jaguar's good news for '09 does not end with the XFR because the company is also into the countdown for its all-new luxury XJ model.
It is expected to be previewed at the Frankfurt Motor Show in October with deliveries in Australia from early in 2010.
But Blackall is not giving anything away.
"The car is on track. There will be northern hemisphere announcements at the right time," he says.
"Given the state of the world, the quicker we can get it into showrooms the better for Jaguar."
The fleet industry is set for a strong downturn this year after propping up new vehicle sales over the past four years.
Companies are now holding on to their fleet vehicles for longer and buying more second-hand vehicles, according to a study by market research company ACA.
It found the median age for fleet vehicle replacement had risen from 3.5 years to four years or 120,000km.
The survey also found that a third of fleet vehicles were now bought second hand and 31 per cent of businesses say that some or all of the vehicles in their fleet were purchased second-hand.
Fleet sales have been bolstering the industry for the past four years, rising 11.93 per cent from 348,405 in 2005 to 389,958 last year, while private sales dropped 2.09 per cent from 470,602 to 460,773 and government sales deflated a massive 17.72 per cent from 87,547 to 71,037.
Business fleet sales are now expected to start tumbling in the current economic downturn, according to FleetPartners CEO Nick Johnson.
"We've done some market modelling for 2009 and we're predicting about a 10 per cent drop in the whole market," he said.
"That is going to affect the business and private market. While the private market will drop further, there is no question that with companies producing less and selling less with fewer employees they will need fewer vehicles."
He said companies were now discussing fleets at board level.
"By elevating fleet management to a board issue, companies are signalling the important role fleet plays in their efficiency, profit and increasingly, their ability to adapt to the current tightening economic climate," he said.
"This trend has accelerated as business confidence has weakened and growth has slowed."
The national survey of more than 320 fleet managers, conducted for FleetPartners, found that the bigger a company's fleet the more likely it was to consider fleet strategy as core business.
Occupational health and safety is still a major driver of fleet decisions, with 75 per cent of companies saying it played an important role in setting their fleet priorities.
Airbags and anti-lock brakes are considered the most important safety features for fleet vehicles, with 62 per cent and 36 per cent of respondents respectively listing these as key safety requirements.
Measures to cut carbon emissions from their fleet have been introduced by 38 per cent of companies, according to the survey.
The cars – which will be built at Chrysler’s North American plants — will be developed as a result of the agreement between the two companies, under which Fiat has taken a 35 per cent stake in Chrysler.
Four of the vehicles will be branded as Chryslers, while the remaining three are expected to be either sold as Fiats or Alfa Romeos.
Fiat will reportedly supply platforms for four of the products, but there has been no information about design, vehicle segments or estimated launch.
However industry insiders have suggested that the product plan being finalised between the two brands will see the Fiat 500 produced at Chrysler’s Toluca factory after the PT Cruiser currently built there is phased out later this year.
However Chrysler’s Australian boss, Gerry Jenkins, says the local arm has as yet little detail of what is happening at head office.
“All we know is that our top executives are in talks this week with Fiat executives and at this stage there is no further information,” Jenkins says.
“I don’t have a whole lot of detail. We are having correspondence with head office but there is nothing concrete I can say at this stage.
“But we’re all very excited. (The Fiat agreement) is a tremendous opportunity.
“It’s a perfect marriage and I think the prospects are absolutely outstanding.”
Fiat’s stake in Chrysler has not included any money being handed over, with the Italian badge’s involvement being repaid by more doors being opened to international markets and shared technology.
Chrysler was one of the beneficiaries of the US government bail-out earlier this year, receiving US$4 billion in loans, however experts believed that the company would collapse without a strategic partnership.
However a Fiat executive has warned that Italy’s automotive industry could lose 60,000 jobs – around 20 per cent of the workforce — unless the government implements a rescue package.
”If the government doesn't intervene, the risk that 60,000 workers in the automotive sector will have to stay at home is real,” Fiat chief executive Sergio Marchionne was quoted by Italy's Ansa news agency as saying earlier this week.
"We are expecting measures for the entire automotive sector, which is currently selling 60 per cent less than last year," he said.
“It's not a case of helping Fiat but of re-starting an entire production sector and the whole economy.”
Fiat has slashed production recently and cut its forecasts because of the global auto slump, and announced earlier in January that it would not pay a 2008 dividend to shareholders.
Starring British actor Jason Statham from Snatch and, of course, the first two Transporter movies, Transporter 3 takes the high-speed action right across Europe.
In this film, Statham, as Frank Martin, is forced to transport two bulky bags and a young Ukrainian woman from Marseille to Odessa.
In Transporter 1 & 2, most of the action scenes lasted 30-40 seconds. Transporter 3 features almost unlimited stunts.
Bond film stunt expert Raacemi Julienne said they shot all the car chase scenes at high speed rather than speeding it up later.
"All the car chases are filmed at real speed, without models, to capture the pace and inertia of a car going into a spin," he said.
Unlike most modern action movies, 3D was used sparingly with most stunts being performed on set.
"That's where you have to come up with new ideas," Julienne said.
"How do you jump a car on to a train without it smashing up? How do you slide it down the side of truck?
"Every day was a different challenge and most of the solutions were dreamed up on the spot. That's what made the shoot so exciting and such fun."
Most of the chase scenes were structured like action symphonies, which resulted in crumpled fenders, high-risk chopper flying and even the use of a purpose-built quad bike in the streets of Marseille.
The car star of the action flick is the six-litre, 331kW, W12-powered Audi A8 quattro luxury saloon, driven by Statham's character; at one stage on two wheels between two trucks on a high-speed Autobahn.
Although how he manages to do so many handbrake slides with an electronic parking brakes defies logic.
The A8 also replicates the spiral jump first seen in the 1974 James Bond film, The Man With The Golden Gun.
Transporter3 also features a cornucopia of vehicles including an Audi Q7 SUV; BMW 3 and 5 Series; several Citroens and Renaults; a Hummer H1; Kenworth, DAF and Scania trucks; a Kia Cee'd; Range Rover Sport; Lada Samara and Peugeot police cars; and even a tractor that pulls the A8 out of a river.
Statham is a bit of an Audi fan owning an old RS6 Audi and waiting on the release of the RS6 V10 twin turbo with 426kW of power.
The rugged action flick actor with a background in martial arts did most of his own stunts in the first two Transporter movies, including car chases, scuba diving sequences and fights.
Statham is no debutante to car action films having also appeared in last year's Death Race, which was a reworking of the 1975 film Death Race 2000 featuring David Carradine.
Audi is also no debutante to the silver screen, having featured in the previous two Transporter movies, Ronin, I Robot, Mission Impossible 2, About a Boy, Legally Blond 2, Hitman and The Matrix 2.
It also starred its R8 supercar in last year's action film, Iron Man, with Robert Downey Jr who arrived at the Australian premiere in a silver R8. Supporting roles in Iron Man were played by a S5 sports sedan and a Q7.
The first two Transporter movies earned more than $50 million worldwide.
As Porsche prepares its luxury Panamera, and Aston Martin worries over its four-door Rapide, Mercedes-Benz is certain of success with its upcoming Gullwing.
It knows the combination of the retro-futuristic Gullwing name and body, and a 320km/h mechanical package from its go-faster AMG division, will mean certain success for the fastest car to carry its badge.
The Gullwing has been an open secret for more than a year, with camouflaged test cars running around Europe and logging laps at the Nurburgring, but now company executives are talking openly about the car.
Benz's safety chief, Ulrich Mellinghoff, talks now about crashing testing carbon fibre body parts for the Gullwing and the head of AMG, Volker Mornhinweg, is dropping hints about the engine for the car.
"The crashing testing is more like a convertible. There is no energy path through the roof," says Mellinghoff.
He also admits the nature of carbon fibre, expected to used for the majority of the car, means there will be aluminium crash panels at each end to absorb impact forces.
"With carbon fibre you cannot see if there is any internal damage. It can look perfect, but crumbles if you bump it."
The biggest question of all for the Gullwing is the engine, with Mornhinweg talking enthusiastically about everything from a new V6 - which is being developed for the baby A and B-Class cars - to the existing 6.2-litre V8 and the V12 used in the SL 'Black Series' with twin turbochargers.
But his biggest hint is that something new - perhaps a new-age 5.5- litre V8 - could do the job.
"We are working hard on something we launch in 2010. It will be a new engine," he says.
"I think later this year we will have more to say."
But he lays false trails everywhere, talking about a range of powerplants.
"We work very hard on our current 6.2-litre engine. There are a lot of new technologies," he says.
"Direct injection with piezo control . . . to make combustion in a perfect way. We also have some opportunity to put the turbocharger on some engines.
"For the smaller cars we have decided on an engine, but I don't want to talk. It's a very interesting thing, we have outstanding performance but we can reduce the fuel consumption."
Getting away from the mechanics and safety, the Gullwing is expected to have a paddle-shift gear system, LED running lights in the top of the headlamp cluster and giant metallic disc brakes.
It is intended to completely out-strip the McLaren-Mercedes SLR, a joint venture between Benz and its Formula One partner which has never hit its original sales targets, including production of as many as 6000 cars a year with a price-tag in the $500,000 range.
The Gullwing is widely predicted to star for Mercedes at the Frankfurt Motor Show later this year, although its debut could be pushed back to Geneva in 2011 if the company decides its is inappropriate to make a huge splash during the worldwide economic downturn.
Audi Australia managing director Joerg Hofmann has responded strongly in correcting remarks made by BMW’s local head of corporate communications, Toni Andreevski.
“It’s only natural that others want a piece of the pie,” Andreevski told Carsguide in response to Hofmann’s bullish assertion that Audi will significantly increase its share of the prestige market at its rival’s expense.
“But the fact is that we continue to reduce fuel consumption, provide the best driving experience and have the highest resale values,” Andreevski says.
“Cars that are cheaper to buy are not necessarily the cheapest to run in the longer terms. We didn’t have a single diesel vehicle five years ago, now they are among our best sellers.”
If these words were intended to provoke Hofmann they could not have been better calculated. “While some may have managed a modest sales increase, Audi is a clear winner with 30 per cent growth,” Audi’s number one ripostes. “The proof is in the pudding – or even the pie. The size of the slice should no longer be taken for granted.
“Our resale values, which are easily on par for all core models, and even better for key segments like the A4’s B-segment, according to Glass’s Guide, who produce the industry-accepted residual values data.”
Hofmann adds pointedly that Audi has offered its cutting-edge direct-injection turbo diesels here since 2000 and that it has reduced fuel consumption by 10 per cent with each new generation.
“We actually offer the largest fleet of fuel efficient vehicles in Australia – with at least 12 vehicles in our current line up with consumption of 7 litres/100km or less – and therefore exempt from LCT.”
While this Bavarian civil war is being fought globally, Australia (Audi’s fastest-growing market) has become one of the more bitterly contested theatres.
The stoush has an extra edge given that in their homeland Audi’s new A4 last year became the best-selling prestige car at the expense of BMW’s 3- Series. And while Audi recorded its 13th consecutive year of growth to break the million sales mark for the first time, their rivals posted its first annual decline in sales for 15 years.
But if BMW slumped 4.3 per cent, it significantly outsold Audi, with 1.44 million units shifted. Similarly, BMW remained by far the dominant of the two here in 2008, selling 17,263 to Audi’s 9410, although the Ingolstadt brand’s growth dwarves that of the Munich mob.
Meanwhile, it was announced last week that BMW Australia’s managing director, Günther Seemann, is moving on to take over as head of sales for Asia, Oceania and South Africa. A new manager for the Australia is yet to be announced.
Whoever it is, might be well-advised advised to practice their pie eating.
