We’re hearing some very bad news suggesting that one of the finest high performance saloons of all time is about to bite the dust. Gayu Eusegi, Mitsubishi’s global product director, has told Autocar that Lancer Evolution X will be the last of the Evo breed.
Now before we get to Eusegi’s reasons for that decision, one may wonder if it’s not for the Evo, what is the point of having Mitsubishi at all?!
I mean that is the only interesting car they make. But they don’t care about that. What they want is to become one of the world’s leaders in developing electric cars. Mitsubishi is is going to introduce eight full electric or hybrid cars by 2015. The Evo projects get canceled and the funds go to cars like the e-compact which is a pathetic little city car to be made in Thailand. Fantastic!
“There is still a demand [for the car],” he said, “but we must stop.” Eyebrow up.“Our influence now is EV technology,” Eusegi said, adding that the decision was a “policy change”.
The Lancer Evo might not be as involved with rallying as it used to be – well, to be honest it has lost all its rally glory a long time ago – but there’s still a big demand for the road going monster. The demise of Lancer Evo will make Subaru very happy, because they will have that market all to themselves with the Impreza which is going to get a thorough upgrade for its next model.
Now with all the hybrid electrics Mitsubishi has in development, you would imagine that the Evo will comeback in a few years sporting a hybrid badge. Mitsu’s official doesn’t rule out that possibility.
