Bad news! The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution is reportedly heading to that big garage in the sky, leaving a rally-car sized hole in the hearts of car enthusiasts.
Yet all may not be lost. Auto Express reports that the Japanese carmaker is considering reviving another storied performance car: the 3000GT.
Mitsubishi Motors UK managing director Lance Bradley told the magazine that, at the moment, the company is interested in building a performance coupe, which would be smaller than the current Evo.
That car would be based on the platform of the next Mistubishi ASX crossover (known as the Outlander Sport in the United States), and it would crib the all-wheel drive plug-in hybrid powertrain from the Outlander PHEV.
Before reports of its demise began circulating, there were rumors of a hybrid Evo as well. Mitsubishi is betting big on plug-in hybrids, including the Outlander and the plug-in concepts it unveiled at the 2013 Tokyo Motor Show.
So it’s likely the company will try to adapt the technology to whatever performance car it builds, be it a sedan or a coupe. Such a model would produce a nice halo effect, and give Mitsubishi one more platform to help amortize development costs.
A sophisticated hybrid powertrain would also make this theoretical coupe an appropriate successor to the 3000GT.
In the 1990s, the 3000GT was Mitsubishi’s high-tech flagship. It featured a twin-turbocharged, 3.0-liter V6, all-wheel drive, four-wheel steering, driver-adjustable shocks, and even an optional folding hardtop.
Many of these features are commonplace on current cars, but they were quite novel for the time. A new sporty hybrid coupe could similarly wow the car-buying public, propelling Mitsubishi back into relevance as a technology and performance leader.
