Mygreenwheels

Here's some more revolutionary retailing strategy from Mitsubishi. It has now signed a deal to sell its i-MiEV electric car through Bic Camera Inc.,Japan's largest electrical appliance retailer. To quote Bic's president: "EVs can be considered a type of home electrical appliance. We hope to contribute to rising sales of the vehicle by letting more people know about it."

And why not? They're already selling through Best Buy in the US as I reported in April this year. How long before we see them at Comet in the UK?

Bic Camera electrical appliance store in TokyoBic Camera is displaying the EV at four of its stores to give customers the opportunity to test drive the i-MiEV and EVWorld reports that Mitsubishi is negotiating already with another major discount electric store.

Their rush to get to market makes sense when you read that they predicted sales of 1,400 EVs in 2009 and 5,000 in 2010, in fact selling 2,000 in 2009 and are now on track to sell 9,000 this year.

Pushing sales through stores like Bic and Best Buy will help to change the consumer mindset about electric cars. And they'll have plenty of eager 'geeks' on hand to explain to shoppers just what makes these cars so different - just as they do when they're explaining the relative merits of a DVD player or a washing machine.

When you come to compare traditional and electric cars, it's like the difference between a traditional telephone and a mobile phone - superficially they exist to do the same thing, but the mobile is so much more versatile ... as long as you keep the battery topped up.