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I would think most gasoline cars catch on fire because there is severe damage to the front-end, the fuel lines are ruptured, and gasoline ends up on the hot engine and ignites. I would think a major advantage of an electric car is that it doesn't have that mode of failure. So replacing it with another mode of failure that also results in front-end fires is... not great.

You can see car fire statistics here: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/statistics/reports/vehicles.shtm

44% of car fires happen due to mechanical failure. Wire insulation is 28% of car fires. and fuel in the engine area was 18% of fires.

A lot of them "catch fire" when people can't make their lease payments or want to liquidate an over-priced asset.