No More Evo: The End of Performance at Mitsubishi...for now
Earlier this month, Mitsubishi told us that the Lancer Evolution would not be renewed in 2015, and that the next-gen Lancer would not benefit from an Evo version.
The CEO of Mitsubishi Motors, Osamu Masuko, mentioned in a conference that his company did not have the financial resources to develop an all-new high-performance vehicle from scratch. They will now focus on electrical vehicles and produce cars with the help of their Renault/Nissan alliance.
Mitsubishi talks about boosting sales by 29% before 2017, which means they would sell 1.43 million cars annually.
The loss of the Evo pretty much kills the performance range of the manufacturer, who also lost the Eclipse a few years back. The only car that can pretend to be fun now is the Lancer Ralliart, with all-wheel drive and 237 HP.
But everything may not be lost. The Japanese manufacturer may decide to revive another storied performance icon, one that was known as a high-tech coupe: the 3000GT. There have been rumors that a sport coupe based on the ASX crossover platform could be produced. This would mean all-wheel drive and a hybrid powertrain.
If you want to take a trip down memory lane, go see our gallery on the history of the Lancer Evolution, a story made on the dirt of rally stages worldwide, and passed on to the youth through video games.