After the subsidies are taken into account, I wonder if the net cost to a US or Canadian buyer will be the same as the net cost to a Japanese buyer.

Yea, but don't forget (ALSO) that the IMIEV is a REAL car. Unlike the Volt, the Fed's (as a 50 billion part owner of GM) have already complained about the feasibility of going forward with the Volt. I'm wishin' . . . I'm hope'n . . . but weather or not they will, is truly up in the air. The Imiev, on the other hand, is actually out on the road, in numbers. The full EV subsidies, i believe, are larger too, than PHEV subsidies. The 1st manufacturer back out on the maket will likely build a big fat fan base that will be lost by the 2nd & 3rd place johnny come latelies. At least that's how it went with the Prius. Too bad Honda didn't put more into it's Gen I Insight back in its early days ... make it a 4 seater, and sell it nation wide, rather than just a few states. That's the way it goes. Hard to re-capture old glory after it gets away from you.

Did I miss it, or didn't they say how fast it gets from zero to sixty? They said it can keep up with traffic, but that's a very subjective statement.

As for the price, that's pretty reasonable for 100 miles of range, considering the cost of lithium batteries. And they say the batteries will last ten years. Again, I'd say that justifies the price. If it was available here, and I didn't already have my electric Porsche. I'd buy one in a heartbeat. Assuming the 100-mile range is real, and is at highway speed, and not what one skilled hypermiler did at 20 mph.

Baahh! After doing a bit of homework, instead of just hearing someone blather an uncorroborated statement, I stand (subliminally) corrected.

darell somehow managed to finagle a test drive a few weeks ago. Not only did he say that my 6'-5" torso would have enough head room ... and I believe he said it wasn't too bad in the peppy department either.

Edit:
Yea, here he is ... about 1:00 minute into the vid ... to about 1:45 or so ... being all famous:


Gett'in the test drive ... How does he do it?

The car costs $47k. In Japan, the subside can be as high as $24K for EV (as teax credit). That would bring down the cost to $23K. Good price if you ask me.
It is as hot as the new Prius in Japan. W/o the subside, $47K is just too much for such a small (and "ugly IMO") car.

If Mitsubishi sells that car in NJ it will be subsidized by the $7500 Federal tax credit & NJ's sales tax waiver. Sales tax is currently 7%. At $47560 that's $3329 worth of sales tax.

Ouch !

I want to replace the Yaris with iMiev sometime after 2012. Here's to hoping the battery price drops.