Mitsubishi e-Evolution
That’s right, the one-time dominator of WRC and Impreza arch-rival could be an electric SUV
Boys and girls, this could be our frst look at an all-new Mitsubishi Evo. This is a sentence that, 10 years ago, would have had the internet comments’ section in an immediate froth. There’d be debates about how much more power had been wrung out of a 2.0-litre turbo engine, how much the rear wing had been extended by, the number of vortex fns on the roof and just how much fun we’d all have pretending to be rally drivers when we got a go in the thing. Either in real life or on a games console.
This time, though, it’s diferent. The Nineties’ and Noughties’ seemingly endless battle between fast Subaru Imprezas and Mitsubishi Evos, um, ended. You can still buy an STI-badged Subaru, just, but its spec sheet has been stagnant for years. Fast Lancers, meanwhile, are dead and buried. The e-Evolution Concept, as Mitsubishi has christened the car you see here, was revealed at last month’s Tokyo motor show, and serves several purposes. Firstly, it previews a forthcoming Nissan Juke-sized crossover – hence the ‘wacky’ styling – secondly, it confrms that a derivative of said crossover will be all-electric and, thirdly, that one version of the crossover will wear the hallowed Evolution name. Truth is, at this stage, Mitsubishi isn’t sure yet whether that will be the all-electric one, the plug-in-hybrid one or the petrolpowered one. Our money’s on the former.
Powering the concept is the same triple-motor set-up as last year’s GT-PHEV concept, just minus the petrol engine, so there’s one electric motor (around 120bhp)on the front axle and two motors on the rear axle (around 60bhp each), where an Active Yaw Control system takes care of torque vectoring. It also features an AI system that isn’t about autonomous driving, but driver coaching. Mitsubishi says the system assesses your driving then coaches you how to go faster and, presumably, more sideways judging by the press shot above.
But why oh why does a reborn Evo have to be an SUV? “The e-Evolution Concept signals the start of an exciting new era which will see long-term growth and sustainable development for the brand,” says Mitsubishi. To achieve those things, it kinda had to be a crossover of some description. Let’s just keep all our fngers and toes crossed it can do the bloodline justice.