There's absolutely now way of making this sound less than disastrous: Mitsubishi has decided to kill the Evo! Speaking to autocar, Gayu Eusegi, the company’s global product director, said that the current generation of the vehicle is the last one.
So, let's see, can you guess why the Evo X is the end of the saga? Yes, this is all connected to electric vehicles. The executive explained that the automaker is concentrating on becoming an important name on the EV scene and wants a radical policy change.
Mitsubishi wants to have an all-green image and sees the Evo as being a threat to this. Unfortunately, the whole story comes in a dark period, when Mitsubishi has lost its connection with Evo's original source of inspiration, the World Rally Championship.
It is strange how the Japanese company is ready to neglect the market demand for the Evolution. Eusegi admitted that this exists but said that the vehicle will get the axe anyway. As if all this wasn't enough, he went on to explain that Mitsubishi still likes the idea of bringing a race car to the road, but this kind of development has to rely on EV technology to get the green light.
The executive seems to have made the company's intentions pretty clear, as he stressed the fact that the Evo X is the last Evolution.
Previous media reports show different pathways for the Evo's future, but none of these are too bright. While some sources state that the vehicle will be turned into a hybrid, others indicate that Mitsubishi will only keep the vehicle's smart all-wheel-drive concept and 300+ hp power rating, which it will use for a more upmarket future vehicle. We don't even know what the worst case scenario would be: to get a three-hugging Evo, or to have the vehicle removed from the line-up.
This is a huge blow for Evo and performance vehicle enthusiasts from around the world, so we expect a tsunami of negative feedback.
So, let's see, can you guess why the Evo X is the end of the saga? Yes, this is all connected to electric vehicles. The executive explained that the automaker is concentrating on becoming an important name on the EV scene and wants a radical policy change.
Mitsubishi wants to have an all-green image and sees the Evo as being a threat to this. Unfortunately, the whole story comes in a dark period, when Mitsubishi has lost its connection with Evo's original source of inspiration, the World Rally Championship.
It is strange how the Japanese company is ready to neglect the market demand for the Evolution. Eusegi admitted that this exists but said that the vehicle will get the axe anyway. As if all this wasn't enough, he went on to explain that Mitsubishi still likes the idea of bringing a race car to the road, but this kind of development has to rely on EV technology to get the green light.
The executive seems to have made the company's intentions pretty clear, as he stressed the fact that the Evo X is the last Evolution.
Previous media reports show different pathways for the Evo's future, but none of these are too bright. While some sources state that the vehicle will be turned into a hybrid, others indicate that Mitsubishi will only keep the vehicle's smart all-wheel-drive concept and 300+ hp power rating, which it will use for a more upmarket future vehicle. We don't even know what the worst case scenario would be: to get a three-hugging Evo, or to have the vehicle removed from the line-up.
This is a huge blow for Evo and performance vehicle enthusiasts from around the world, so we expect a tsunami of negative feedback.