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...made by Toyota and Honda accounted for 90% of those sales. For Japanese consumers who want to buy a hybrid this year, there's a waiting list. Toyota launched its new Prius in May, on the heels of Honda's launch of the Insight, a cheaper subcompact hybrid. In Japan, the Prius grabbed the top spot for new car sales (nearly 11,000) last month followed by the Insight in third, according to the Japan Automobile Dealers Association...
...Japan's top automakers, Toyota and Honda, battle it out for supremacy in the hybrid car market, Japan's smaller car companies are taking a different eco-car road. Mitsubishi Motors on June 5 presented its zero-emissions i-MiEV - Japan's first fully electric vehicle (EV) for the global market. Production of the egg-shaped vehicle, which has a range of 99 miles (160 km) on a single charge, kicked off this week; fleet sales will start in Japan next month and the car is expected to reach U.S. buyers by the end of next year. Tooting...
...market will take years to reach the level of hybrid sales. "For five to 10 years, EVs will be for city commuters, used in a limited area, while the hybrid is a pure alternative to the conventional vehicle," says Tatsuo Yoshida, senior analyst at UBS Securities Japan. "There needs to be a breakthrough to the battery technology so that the EV becomes a viable alternative to existing vehicles." (See the 50 worst cars of all time...
...playing field is fairly level. EVs are not as complicated to manufacture as hybrids, and the market is in its infancy. Toyota, for all its success with the Prius, has said it could launch EVs in the U.S. by 2012, but has not announced plans to introduce them in Japan. "If you're third or fourth, you'll never beat Toyota or Honda head on," says Richter. "But you can beat them if you change the rules of the game...
...says Richter. A full charge for the i-MiEV takes 7 hours; a quick charge of 80% takes 30 minutes. Mitsubishi's development group wanted to ease concerns by making a car with a range significantly greater than the average daily commute of about 25 miles (40 km) in Japan's urban areas. But until charging stations become prevalent in cities, worries will remain. "Infrastructure and driving range - it's kind of a chicken and egg situation," says Kenichiro Wada, the i-MiEV team leader of Mitsubishi's Engineering Planning Team. "If the infrastructure is expanded, there's no concern...