Japanese car maker Mitsuoka Motor, which remodels production cars by hand, unveiled its first full-sized electric car, a five-seat version of Mitsubishi Motor's i-MiEV.
The car maker will start taking orders from late May for the new model named "Like," targeting sales of about 400 units by March 2011, the company said.
Mitsuoka, whose craftsmen-mechanics take production cars and remodel them with a custom body, gave the curvy original a sharper image with a new front and bumpers and widened the interior to add a fifth seat, the company said.
Mitsuoka will offer the car with a price tag of 4.28 million yen (US$46,090), but the Japanese government's incentive program for fuel-efficient cars would refund 1.14 million yen to buyers, it said.
Mitsuoka has marketed single-seat electric microcars before, but the "Like" is its first electric vehicle with multiple seats.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2010
