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Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution Next Generation Model Details Emerge
The iconic Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, the common man's sports car was rumored to be lost to history, but then CEO Osamu Masuko came out with a statement which buried those rumors once and for all. The Lancer EVO was far from dead, he said and that the next generation will be nothing like the car we have known for the last two decades.
Masuko said that a couple of years back and since then several rumors have surfaced around the high performance Lancer, including talks about a hybrid powertrain. Now, MotorTrend has come with a report claiming further details about the next gen Lancer EVO, gathered from insider sources.
First and foremost among these details is a strange one. The next EVO will not be based on the same platform as the Lancer at all. That's because, following Mitsubishi's recent team up with the Renault-Nissan Alliance, the new Lancer will be based on the Renault Megane platform and this platform just does not have what it takes to handle the power and performance the new EVO is said to offer.
Hence, Mitsubishi is said to be working on an all new platform, exclusively for the next EVO. That brings us to the next piece of information. Mitsubishi will tap into its vast pool of knowledge about electric technology to power the next EVO. And that means the use of a diesel hybrid powerplant and some of that technology will be derived from the new Outlander Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle.
To quote an MT insider source, the goal with the next EVO is to achieve "uncompromised handling with state-of-the-art plug-in hybrid EV technology."
The car will be powered by a three cylinder diesel engine, assisted by two electric motors. Based on a modified version of the company's Super All-Wheel Control (S-AWC) technology, one of the motors will assist the engine as well as drive the front axle, while the other motor takes care of the other axle. And that's an all wheel drive configuration similar to the one found in Porsche 918 Spyder Hybrid hypercar.
All that sounds like the Lancer EVO will be a totally new car and that's something even Mitsubishi is reportedly stressing on. In fact, the next EVO will be so different and so radical that it is unlikely to retain the Lancer EVO name at all. Mitsubishi is trying to build a car that rivals every car in its segment and even cars from higher up the ladder and it will do so while sporting green credentials.
Mitsubishi certainly sounds like its going all out with the next gen EVO or whatever it will be called. However, it would become impossible for the company to offer so much technology in a car that costs less than $50,000. The next EVO could in fact turn out to be a Nissan GT-R rival.
So, in other words, the Lancer EVO is actually dead.
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