Mitsubishi Wants To Revive The Lancer Evolution

Mitsubishi engineering fellow Kaoru Sawase spoke with members of the Australian media this week, telling them that the company hasn't totally abandoned the Lancer Evolution. The automaker's last effort left the factory in 2016 after a decades-long run competing both on the rally stage and the street with Subaru's WRX STI. While the WRX name has managed to live on, Mitsubishi hasn't had a Lancer for a decade. The company has a dream, and it hopes to change that one day.

Mitsubishi Is Keeping The Lancer Dream Alive

“We have a dream, of course, for Lancer Evolution,” Sawase-san said at this year's Tokyo Motor Show. “It's my personal dream.” The original Evolution was based on the Lancer compact sedan, just as Subaru's WRX is based on the Impreza compact. The problem is, Mitsubishi doesn't sell the Lancer in the US anymore. That alone is the biggest problem standing in the way of a revival.

Without the sales of a more popular, volume-focused model for a manufacturer to build its performance car off of, two things will happen: first, the price of the standalone performance model becomes substantially higher, and second, it becomes much more difficult to justify the financial investment in a dedicated performance car to management. Many of today's popular sports sedans are based on more pedestrian cars, from Subaru's own WRX and the tepid Impreza to the mighty BMW M3 and the baser 3 Series lineup. Mitsubishi, it seems, still has some kind of plan.

Mitsubishi Has A Plan For A New Evo

When asked if it was feasible to produce a new Evolution model in the current market, Sawase told Drive, “We have a variety, a range of technologies on-hand.” As for a powertrain, electrification can't be ruled out: “Naturally, considering the global [environment], the times, that will be the direction that we will be going,” he said.

Electrification proves to be another problem for the Lancer Evolution's future. It's a big gamble to bet on whether enthusiasts are willing to accept an electric-assisted drivetrain. Hybrids and EVs are undoubtedly better for the environment and better performers to boot, but enthusiasts insist on gasoline powertrains. To work, an Evolution revival will need to directly compete with standing competitors like the GR Corolla, Civic Type R, and WRX, all of which use purely gasoline engines.