It’s recently been reported that Mitsubishi will be culling its Lancer Evolution X by the end of this year, and that a successor may be several years away still. Now a report is claiming that the successor may not be a sporty sedan but a 2+2 sports car, a potential successor to the automaker's 3000GT (GTO in other markets) of the 1990s.
“It's possible it could be a high performance coupe--smaller rather than bigger than current Evo,” Lance Bradley, Mitsubishi’s chief in the U.K., told Auto Express when asked about the Evo’s future. “Therefore a 2+2 coupe would be a sensible body choice.”
The original 3000GT featured advanced technologies for its time, such as active aero, four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering, and Mitsubishi’s new car could potentially continue this spirit with advanced hybrid technology. This ties in with a previous report that said the Evo’s replacement would be a 500-horsepower GT-R rival.
Mitsubishi’s Outlander PHEV is already fitted with an all-wheel-drive system that consists of an electric motor on each axle, with a gasoline engine included only for high-load situations or for charging the batteries when their juice is low. Such a system could easily be tuned for performance driving as the system in the Outlander PHEV has already been integrated with Mitsubishi’s well-proven S-AWC (Super All Wheel Control) vehicle dynamics control system.
The only problem is that Acura will offer a similar setup in its new NSX when it lands next year, and Nissan and Toyota are expected to offer similar hybrid tech in their future GT-R and Supra models in the next year or two. Mitsubishi will have to hurry up if it doesn't want to be late to the party.
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