I’m totally anti-Mitsubishi but this is cool. late on the hybrid thing but hey, IF its updated to a plug-in version then great. I live close to the Dimandstar plant in Illinois and have a few friends and family producing cars for Mitsubishi. Mitsubish doesnt let this out but FYI, about a while back when they were advertizing the fact that they were the fastest producing asian car manufacturer. they bypassed the testing track outside the plant for ALL cars. An older buddy of mine is one of the employees hired to track test every 5 cars produced. From the interstate you can see that “track” is now cracked and overgrown with weeds. My buddy was transfered to assembly when they were the “fastest producing asian automanufacturer.” I’m doubting the fact that that claim would stand true today, not that it matters, but what does stand true in the fact that the only physical testing done on each car is dyno testing. The employees are to “approach” redline but are governed from reaching it. These are facts and not my opinion. If you are within the Mitsubishi fanbase thats cool. Just providing what I know.

If Mitsu doesn’t get its sh*t together in North America real soon the 2013 Evo won’t matter much in these parts.

Mitsubishi could really take advantage of the Kizashi segment if they take that god awful Galant and shove it down the proverbial garbage disposal. And by Kizashi segment I’m referring to the segment Jake spoke of that the last Mazda6 sat in, but has left it in the dust in favor of a few extra thousand cheeseburgers over the years.

@Comp.Mode, I am one of the so called Mitsu fan boys and I can only tell you one thing that I have experienced in the past. All the Mitsus that I had that were made in Japan were reliable as anything I ever had in my life, just regular maintenance (fluid changes) and wear and tear items (timing belts, brake pads). BUT, the one Mitsu that I had that was made in Illinois (Galant 2001) just wasn’t a well put product, I mean, I didn’t have any MAJOR problems but the overall quality just wasn’t there. So I am beginning to suspect that maybe the problem is not so much with whole Mitsubishi but just the Illinois plant, maybe management/workers there are just untrained or plain simply lazy/don’t give a crap? All I know is that the latest Lancer/Outlander (both of which are made in Japan) are ranked very high in latest realiabiliy ratings such as Consumer Reports. I don’t think it’s a coincident.

As far as this article is concerned, Mitsubishi is already selling plug-in hybrid in Japan, Mitsu and Nissan should be one of the first to get a hold of this segment. Mitsu already had a concept of iMIEV Evo in 2006 and even tracked it at an event.

I doubt the very few people who buy the Evo want a hybrid version, that’s not really what the car is about. Seems like a silly idea to me, not everything needs a hybrid version of every single car you offer.

Someone should tell Toyota that.

I agree with 2WheeledSpeeed. A hybrid Lancer is one thing, but a hybrid EVO? That’s something no-one EVO-fan asked for…

I too think that’s stupid,they are going overboard with this hybrid stuff

mitsu’s experience with dynamic car control lends itself well to a car with a motor at each wheel…fast forward to lightweight high capacity batteries and you’d have a great product with great performance…

To blitzkrieg79: Ok, just remember that you labeled yourself as a fanboy. I don’t know why but you did. I didnt. Furthermore, ALL Mitsubishi’s are engineered by the same in-house logistics mandated employees equally. Simply putting together a car past a different geography of land doesn’t change that. The same logistics are carried over to the assemblers. Tolerences are also mandated the same. Everywhere. I dont know what tool you used to gauge what ” I didn’t have any MAJOR problems but the overall quality just wasn’t there” is, but I’m guessing it’s a complex one. The fact that the two cars you are comparing are totally different cars is probably why they didn’t “feel” the same to you. Obviously. The employees there are happy. They are paid well, treated well, and perform better. The cars have lost quality standards, that is proven within the facilities workforce. The employees have not. This is all data. Any confusion to add me to the equasion wouldn’t be too mature. Just like physically untested automobiles.

Keeping weight off the wheels is very important when you talk performance though. Not just in cornering. When I dyno tested my BMW 328is track car after I put the bigger rotors on my torque fell dramaticaly. A formulation involving kinetic energy comes into play and hits you really hard. I bypassed the unfortunate event with lighter wheels made by BMW. It costed me though. Lighter or thinner tires can aid as well but the rubbers i have I keep on that car no matter what. I couldnt imagine the unsprung weight value held in this situation, but it just shows us the challenges certain engineers lose sleep over.