Car blogs

Mitsubishi Motors Corp. and PSA Peugeot Citroen may start producing an electric vehicle at Peugeot's plant in Spain in 2012, the Japanese business publication Nikkei reported (subscription required).


Mitsubishi spokesman Maurice Durand told Green Car Advisor the story is based on speculation and that the company can't confirm the reports on a Mitsubishi-Peugeot EV partnership.


According to Nikkei, the two automakers will try to sell the EV to postal and freight companies as well as government ministries, and will make as many as 50,000 EVs a year.


Spanish government officials said last week that it was in discussions with Mitsubishi to build a 400 million euro ($509 million) EV factory in Vigo, Spain, where Peugeot has its biggest factory. The factory would create about 1,500 jobs.


Peugeot Citroen this week will announce an electric-vehicle leasing plan that will boost EV demand by temporarily offering gas-powered cars for trips that are longer than the EVs' single-charge range, Bloomberg News reported.


The company's Citroen division will include the C-Zero City EV, which has a 93-mile single-charge range and is built by Mitsubishi, the news service said, citing an interview with Peugeot Citroen officials. Mitsubishi will make 7,000 C-Zero and Peugeot iOn EVs for the French carmaker next year, Bloomberg said.


Peugeot Citroen is competing with larger French automaker Renault SA for share of what is expected to be an expanding electric-vehicle market over the next few years. Renault, along with partner Nissan, has invested about $4 billion developing EVs, Bloomberg said.


General Motors, which is preparing to debut its Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid later this year, is unlikely to provide as much information on the development of future generations of the model to the media as it has for the past three-plus years with the current Volt, the blog GM-Volt.com reported.


The automaker "will not be as transparent" with future Volts, the blog reported, citing Volt director Tony Posawatz. GM spokesman Rob Peterson said the company will hold off on information on future versions so that it doesn't "confuse the message" for the current Volt, according to the blog.


Second- and third-generation Volts are likely to be less expensive to make and sell because GM will have further developed and perfected the technology behind the model, the blog said. The current Volt will go on sale for $41,000 later this year.

Tags: Car Sharing, Chevrolet, Citroen, Diesel, Emissions, France, Fuel Economy, General Motors, Hybrid, Japan, Mitsubishi, Peugeot, Plug-ins and Electric, Chevrolet, Chevy Volt, Citroen, Electric Car, Electric Vehicle, EV, General Motors, GM, Mitsubishi, Peugeot, PSA/Peugeot-Citroen

---

GreenBriefs: Mitsubishi, Peugeot Reportedly to Make EVs in Spain; GM Won't Be as Open With Next-Gen was originally published by Green Car Advisor. Read the full story by clicking here.