A Hybrid Evo Is Better Than No Evo...

With the launch of the Outlander Sport compact crossover as well as the electric i-MiEV, it seems Mitsubishi Motors is intent on adopting a green image. Word from Japan is that the company is slowly scrapping its sporty-car program in favor of more economical products.

The company’s in-house tuner, Ralliart, has been all but shut down, while plans for the next-generation Lancer Evolution have allegedly been put on hold. However, an inside source tells us that death reports of the next-generation Evo are premature. He informed us that there are still a few people within Mitsubishi who don’t want to see the company’s image car go away, and that development is underway on a plug-in hybrid version of the high-performance sports sedan.

The next-generation Mitsubishi Lancer Evo could use a plug-in hybrid system that is being shown at the Tokyo motor show, sources have told Autocar.

The plug-in technology is being showcased on the Mitsubishi PX-MiEV concept, and if applied to the Evo XI would dramatically alter its make-up.

With the PX-MiEV, front and rear wheels are powered by two 81bhp permanent magnet synchronous motors. There’s also a 1.6-litre MIVEC petrol engine which not only drives the front wheels but also serves as a generator.

However, the system is configured around Mitsubishi’s Evo-style S-AWC handling control system, and automatically switches between different drive modes depending on driving style and remaining power in the lithium ion battery pack.

It’s a highly sophisticated switchable system that borrows i-MiEV electric car tech for the back wheels but uses a new parallel-type hybrid system for the fronts. It also delivers over 140mpg economy, Mitsubishi says.

Mitsubishi hopes to have it on the market by 2013, but company insiders say the technology could be directed at the new Evo.

“This way, it will conform to the company’s overall strategic plan of building fuel-efficient cars,” he says. “Yet it will have all the performance that the current Lancer Evo possesses.”

Although nothing is set in stone, it seems that at this point if there is to be another Evo, it will probably have some sort of hybrid option, which is an infinitely better scenario than having no Evo at all. And from what we’ve been told, the new car won’t be a slouch at the test track, either.

 

Its the Focus RS...Its the only late-model Ford that I would drive (besides a 350 diesel truck).