Mitsubishi Motor Corporation to axe its man parts

The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution (a.k.a. Evo) has been a revered performance sedan for years. Everything about the car from the looks to the practicality to the ground breaking performance made it one of the most desirable performance cars on the road. The first Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution was designed from ground up to be a rally car, which means that it was meant to be very fast on just about any road surface, be it tarmac, gravel or snow. That made it one of the greatest street racing machines of all time. As a young boy the Evo was my favorite performance car. To me it was the perfect car. And that was a time when Lancers were really in the stride when it came to the WRC.

The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution I was first produced in 1992 and since then the car evolved through its rally pedigree to the current generation Evo X. What made the car really stand out was the technology which went on to make it a performance benchmark. You see the tech came from the WRC Lancer Evos’. All the technology that Mitsubishi developed to make their rally cars cope with the extreme conditions of the motorsport was crammed into the production version of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution series. As a result with every upgrade the car became a faster and better machine. The car was such a success that in the real world performance test it would leave supercars in its dust. Topgear went onto give it a cult status when it showed that the Evo was faster than a Lamborghini Murcielago.

However Mitsubishi decided to pull out of the WRC. The Evo IX was the last model to have been honed from a rally going Evo. The Evo X was even better as a performance machine than its predecessors, it was probably made out of all the bits and pieces of rally technology which Mitsubishi had lying around after they cleaned up the WRC cabin.

This year, the Global Product Director for Mitsubishi Motor Corporation, Gayu Eusegi has announced that Mitsubishi is going to kill the Lancer Evolution despite a strong demand for the vehicle. According to him Mitsubishi is heading in a ‘different direction’ now. They do not want to be linked with production of a performance vehicle in any way. Which is why they are going to kill the Evo X in 2013 and it is not going to have a predecessor. He went onto say that Mitsubishi is concentrating on developing electric cars and hybrid cars. Mitsubishi Motor Corporation plans to launch 8 such models by 2015.

I don’t see this as an unexpected move by Mitsubishi. You see Mitsubishi Motor Corporation does not have the technology or the pedigree to develop the next generation Evo because they do not make rally cars any more. They would have to spend a huge amount of money to develop a brand new car such as a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution XI. Instead they are going to produce electric vehicles. Why? Because, Mitsubishi is a large conglomerate and they have a sister company that makes electric motors.

So, Mitsubishi Motor Corporation has decided to save money in making cars and in the process kill its brand name entirely as a performance car maker. What a shame, one of the best performance car makers has decided to castrate itself and become a eco friendly and gutless manufacturer. And in the process please the green party immensely.

About its return to WRC Mitsubishi says, there is no chance for it to join the WRC again. The only way they will join motorsport is if there is a race series for electric cars.

In my opinion all of this is not going to be of much use because Mitsubishi Motor Corporation is heading completely in the wrong direction. The fuel of the future is Hydrogen and not rubbish battery powered cars. If Mitsubishi wants to be in the automobile market in the future, it is best if the stick to performance cars and off-road vehicles or put their resources into developing Hydrogen powered cars. Because, they neither make very good small cars and electric cars have no future. The sooner they realize this the better it is for Mitsubishi Motor Corporation.

Mitsubishi is one of the biggest MNCs in the world and it can very easily put its resources into developing cars that are in demand. And since the Global Product Director for Mitsubishi Motor Corporation has clearly stated that the Evo is still very much in demand. It would be best if they rejoined the WRC and make fantastic cars full of testosterone instead of trying to please the green party and make cars that no one will buy. And if they really wanted to please the green party Mitsubishi can try and make a hydrogen powered car, that’s something people would probably buy in the future.

Here is the thing Mitsubishi, companies make products which people demand because they can make MONEY out of it. So, start doing it.