Mitsubishi Evo X to bow out with Final Edition
BY TIM ROBSON | 29th Apr 2015
Based on the Final Concept from last year’s Tokyo Auto Salon tuning show – which was heavily modified to make 334kW – the Final Edition will sport Bilstein dampers, Eibach springs and forged 18-inch BBS rims.
While it will also have a little more power and torque than standard –most likely via an ECU tune – it will only be offered with the Evo X’s five-speed manual gearbox.
A new grille treatment and badges will differentiate the Final Edition from its regular Evo X stablemate, while some interior details will also be modified.
Just 2000 units will be made, 1000 of which are earmarked for the Japanese domestic market. An unspecified number has been set aside for left-hand-drive production for the US market, while New Zealand is also set to receive a small number. None will be sold in Europe.
The Evo X Final Edition will arrive in Australia late in 2015, according to Mitsubishi Australia.
On sale in Australia since 2008, the Evo X has remained largely unchanged. The 217kW, 366Nm four-door sedan is powered by Mitsubishi’s new 4B11T all-alloy 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder – which replaced the long-serving 4G63 2.0-litre turbocharged four-potter which powered all nine other versions of the car – and backed by a sophisticated all-wheel-drive layout.
Originally sold here in five-speed manual and six-speed dual-clutch configurations, Mitsubishi currently only lists the SST dual-clutch variant at $58,990 before on-road costs.
Mitsubishi built the Evo line-up around its rally efforts, winning the 1998 World Rally Championship as a factory team with Finnish ace Tommi Makinen.
However, it could only manage a pair of third places in 1999 and 2001, before pulling its works team out of the sport in 2005.
Its privateer Group N rally program, however, continues to this day, with thousands of Evo products in use in forests and tarmac stages around the world.
There are no plans to produce a similar performance vehicle, but Mitsubishi sources have suggested that the Evolution moniker might be applied to a high-performance SUV product in the future.
MMAL has a spotted history with the Evo nameplate. It brought in the Galant VR-4 and the Lancer GSR in the early 1990s, but the first official Australian-sanctioned Evo was the VI Tommi Makinen Edition (TME), launched here in 1999.
Just 100 were imported, at a price almost four times as much as the next Lancer in the range ($79,990).
The VII was not imported, thanks to a glut of unsold Vis, while 200 VIIIs were brought in from 2003. Ironically, the VI TME is now a sought-after collectible.
The ninth iteration became a full-range model from 2006, before being replaced by the X in 2008.
Melbourne-based tuners Team Mitsubishi Ralliart built an Australia-only limited edition version of the X, known as the Evolution Bathurst Edition, in 2010.
A new exhaust and ECU tune provided an extra 30kW and 80Nm for a total of 247kW and 436Nm of torque, making it the most powerful Evo ever sold in Australia.
Offered with full warranty by MMAL, just 100 versions were produced.
