Mitsubishi i MIEV SPORT concept
Makuhari Messe, Japan
Mitsubishi is a company which is much better-known in Japan as a car company than it has ever gotten credit for in the US. Admittedly, not all of the attention shown towards the company has been of the positive sort; a few years ago, a scandal erupted in the company when the government accused executives with Mitsubishi's large truck division with hiding from authorities testing which showed the vehicles had some safety problems, and apparently some people were injured and/or killed through this negligence. Since then, the company has been on a campaign which one might call "Please Like Us", as they try to re-establish themselves in the good graces of the Japanese public. This i MIEV Sport concept, says the company, "maximizes the possibilities of a zero-emissions electric vehicle". The car, says the company, "makes for an exhilarating drive that delivers superior environmental performance." And it's darn cute, too (there's that "cute" word again). Maybe this is what the VW Beetle would have looked like had it been designed in the 21st century.