Currently reading: Mitsubishi confirms no more Evo saloons

The Evo badge won't be used on any future high-performance Mitsubishi saloon, but is likely to return on a hardcore hybrid SUV

Mitsubishi’s Evo performance brand won’t be used on future saloon models, says company chairman and CEO Osamu Masuko. However, it is highly likely it will appear again on a high-performance plug-in hybrid SUV.

Masuko insists the company has no concrete development plan for such a model because it has “lots to do” developing its new mainstream hybrid SUV line-up, but says the company “would like to utilise PHEV technology for high performance”.

Mitsubishi showed one direction of its thinking with the XR-PHEV II concept, revealed in  March at the Geneva motor show.

The company has been building an Evolution series of saloons on its long-lived Lancer model since 1993, but it believes small sales and environmental concerns make this the time to stop. It has been testing a high-performance Outlander PHEV off-roader and will enter it in cross-country rallies, starting with a Portuguese event later this year.

“If we can use EV or PHEV technologies for high-performance cars, we could certainly continue,” says Masuko.

As Autocar reported earlier this year, the Evo badge is likely to return first on a high-performance version of the ASX SUV, which could appear as early as 2016. The car would use lessons learnt both from the XR-PHEV II concept and from Mitsubishi's Pikes Peak racer, the MiEV Evolution.

Get the latest car news, reviews and galleries from Autocar direct to your inbox every week. Enter your email address below:

Steve Cropley

Steve Cropley Autocar
Title: Editor-in-chief

Steve Cropley is the oldest of Autocar’s editorial team, or the most experienced if you want to be polite about it. He joined over 30 years ago, and has driven many cars and interviewed many people in half a century in the business. 

Cropley, who regards himself as the magazine’s “long stop”, has seen many changes since Autocar was a print-only affair, but claims that in such a fast moving environment he has little appetite for looking back. 

He has been surprised and delighted by the generous reception afforded the My Week In Cars podcast he makes with long suffering colleague Matt Prior, and calls it the most enjoyable part of his working week.

Join the debate

Comments
1
Add a comment…
concinnity 16 October 2015

High Performance Versions

In further news, BMW announced that it was dropping the 'M' branded models, apart from the X5M & X6M. Mercedes Benz announced that the 'AMG' brand would be discontinued apart from the SUV versions and Subaru announced that the WRX versions would be dropped because 'they couldn't really be bothered with all that sport stuff anymore'
No. I can't see that happening either. I wonder what Mitsubishi's management thinks they're doing. Do they have any idea of brand values and the worth of halo models ?