Even if I don't own an Evo, it's a bit depressing to know that Mitsubishi's hero car will come to an end. After numerous speculations about how the would-be XI will turn out (hybrid, electric, GT-R fighter, etc.), it has come to this.
While German makers have made efforts to build more affordable performance machines (e.g. A45 and M135i), the Evo has become too expensive for its target buyers. A lot has been poured into the engineering, the sophisticated 4WD system to make it a track car straight out of the box, but it wasn't without its faults, and these are faults that don't justify its relatively high price.
Overall, the Evo is legendary, with ten iterations that showcased the maker's rallying heritage. Things haven't gone well for Mitsu the past number of years, to the point that they left WRC altogether. The performance Lancer is just too good to be ended. We indeed hope for a revival.
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I think the general public is reading this the wrong way - they haven't said they won't continue producing more Evos in the future.
Read his statement carefully...
It's been known for months now that future Evos were rumoured to be hybrids or similar.
People can be upset that future Evos won't be petrol, sure, and it may harm sales and brand image, sure, but he hasn't stated that they won't make another one.
Read his statement carefully...
"We can not do both environmental protection and sports car development at the same time," he says.
"Therefore we would like to focus on the development of electric vehicles.
"Evolution 10 is the last model with petrol engine."
Nakao says an all-new, electric Evo may go on sale when the time amd technology is right.
It's been known for months now that future Evos were rumoured to be hybrids or similar.
People can be upset that future Evos won't be petrol, sure, and it may harm sales and brand image, sure, but he hasn't stated that they won't make another one.
They have ruled out any performance car in the near by future focusing on SUV and EV and EPVs hybrids ... no performance cars anytime soon .
. Evo is done and dusted pushed to the side for many many years
. Evo is done and dusted pushed to the side for many many years
Kendo wrote:I think the general public is reading this the wrong way - [b:62caa7619e]they havent said they wont continue producing more Evos in the future[/b:62caa7619e]. Read his statement carefully... [quote:62caa7619e]We can not do both environmental protection and sports car development at the same time, he says. Therefore we would like to focus on the development of electric vehicles. Evolution 10 is the last model with petrol engine. Nakao says an all-new, electric Evo may go on sale when the time amd technology is right.[/quote:62caa7619e] Its been known for months now that future Evos were rumoured to be hybrids or similar. [b:62caa7619e]People can be upset that future Evos wont be petrol, sure, and it may harm sales and brand image, sure,[/b:62caa7619e] but they havent stated that they wont make another one.
1998 MR lancer
2009 CJ lancer sportback
2011 Renault Sport RS250 Trophee Cup
2000 Tommi Makenin Evolution 6.5
2009 CJ lancer sportback
2011 Renault Sport RS250 Trophee Cup
2000 Tommi Makenin Evolution 6.5
If they 'can't do environmental protection and sports cars' at the same time then to me that means they'll never do an Evo, electric or not... Not unless they stop with environmental protection first.
And if there ever is a spiritual successor to the Evos, I doubt it will be called one. We call it the Evo X but remember its technically just called 'Evolution'.
So I think Mitsu intended it to be the last one all along.
And that article ^ is new too... So one Mitsu person is saying hybrid, and another is saying electric and 'not a petrol engine'?
Sounds like its an extremely low priority to them.
I think its just wrong for a car company not to have a flagship car, even if they don't turn a profit from it...
And I think, in Australia at least, Subaru will eat them for breakfast if they stop making traditional petrol cars. (I know we're a tiny market, but they do better here than America for eg)
And if there ever is a spiritual successor to the Evos, I doubt it will be called one. We call it the Evo X but remember its technically just called 'Evolution'.
So I think Mitsu intended it to be the last one all along.
And that article ^ is new too... So one Mitsu person is saying hybrid, and another is saying electric and 'not a petrol engine'?
Sounds like its an extremely low priority to them.
I think its just wrong for a car company not to have a flagship car, even if they don't turn a profit from it...
And I think, in Australia at least, Subaru will eat them for breakfast if they stop making traditional petrol cars. (I know we're a tiny market, but they do better here than America for eg)
I agree it is silly to remove the hero model. You need an aspirational model to bring desirability to the brand, and that doesn't just mean kids buying Lancers because they want an Evolution, its the brand association in general.
In my opinion, Mitsubishi is dead in the water. They're already on borrowed time and this is just going to wipe them off the sales charts even quicker. I'm not at all surprised by the comment that they can't focus on EVs and performance cars at the same time, they've already proved they can only manage one thing at once. Look how much effort they put into the i-Miev, while completely neglecting the Lancer and Pajero to the point where most competitors have gone through 2 model updates and left them behind. And what do they have to show for it? An overpriced novelty experiment that nobody has bought. If the i-Miev had an internal combustion engine, it would be a $10,000 car, at least the Leaf and Volt are usable vehicles.
The old Mirage was replaced by an awful car in the Colt, which in turn has been replaced by the dismal new Mirage, in a time where cars like the Up! are showing what can be achieved in the class.
The Lancer is uncompetitive, they know it, and the only thing getting them out the door is rock bottom pricing, which isn't sustainable. The CJ also benefitted from desirable, androgynous styling which based on Mitsubishi's current trends is going to turn into an awkward feminine blob.
The Grandis and 380 have been out of the picture for a long time with no replacement, so they've ended up with their lineup biased much too heavily in SUV-land. Which would be OK, if they were doing a cracking job of it. But the Pajero is ancient, the Outlander has only recently finally met customer demand for 2WD and diesel options, and the Challenger is in no mans land, and like most Mitsubishi models, fallen behind the competition which is monocoque chassis and family refinement. The Challenger is almost military in appointment.
If Triton was a dog, Mitsubishi would be broke.
For a company that sells almost exclusively SUVs to put all their efforts into electric power seems like a bad move to me. They at least needed to start with a strong passenger vehicle offering in place of the i-Miev. They should be putting their development into better diesel and petrol engines because that's where they make their money.
Unless they've got a full electric dual cab ute in the works...
In my opinion, Mitsubishi is dead in the water. They're already on borrowed time and this is just going to wipe them off the sales charts even quicker. I'm not at all surprised by the comment that they can't focus on EVs and performance cars at the same time, they've already proved they can only manage one thing at once. Look how much effort they put into the i-Miev, while completely neglecting the Lancer and Pajero to the point where most competitors have gone through 2 model updates and left them behind. And what do they have to show for it? An overpriced novelty experiment that nobody has bought. If the i-Miev had an internal combustion engine, it would be a $10,000 car, at least the Leaf and Volt are usable vehicles.
The old Mirage was replaced by an awful car in the Colt, which in turn has been replaced by the dismal new Mirage, in a time where cars like the Up! are showing what can be achieved in the class.
The Lancer is uncompetitive, they know it, and the only thing getting them out the door is rock bottom pricing, which isn't sustainable. The CJ also benefitted from desirable, androgynous styling which based on Mitsubishi's current trends is going to turn into an awkward feminine blob.
The Grandis and 380 have been out of the picture for a long time with no replacement, so they've ended up with their lineup biased much too heavily in SUV-land. Which would be OK, if they were doing a cracking job of it. But the Pajero is ancient, the Outlander has only recently finally met customer demand for 2WD and diesel options, and the Challenger is in no mans land, and like most Mitsubishi models, fallen behind the competition which is monocoque chassis and family refinement. The Challenger is almost military in appointment.
If Triton was a dog, Mitsubishi would be broke.
For a company that sells almost exclusively SUVs to put all their efforts into electric power seems like a bad move to me. They at least needed to start with a strong passenger vehicle offering in place of the i-Miev. They should be putting their development into better diesel and petrol engines because that's where they make their money.
Unless they've got a full electric dual cab ute in the works...
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