ZT still hits the spot
BY DAVID HASSALL AND JOHN MELLOR | 4th Sep 2008
British magazine Autocar reported that the ZT program has been cancelled because Mitsubishi Motor Corporation could not make a business case for a car that would be positioned against the BMW 3 Series.
Finally basking in the financial sunshine as a full-line importer, Mr McEniry told GoAuto last week of his confidence of getting a car that would not only replace the extinct 380 in terms of body and engine size, but one that would also provide a premium halo for the revived brand.
Having recently returned from head office in Japan, he said the four-door ZT would be the ideal candidate and was likely to go into production.
“What I would really like is a top-end car,” he told us when asked what was currently missing from Mitsubishi’s Australian line-up.
“Really, the (ZT) concept car they showed in Tokyo hits that spot.” Asked if that concept car was going to be built, Mr McEniry said: “Yes, I think it will.” Launched at the Tokyo show in October last year, the Concept-ZT presented Mitsubishi’s current design language applied to a conservative large car and looked like a longer, sleeker version of the ninth-generation Lancer sedan.
Dimensionally, it was well-equipped to be a 380 replacement, sitting on a 65mm longer wheelbase (at 2815mm) and being some 95mm longer (4950mm), though slightly narrower (20mm less at 1820mm) and lower (40mm less at 1440mm).
The concept car was powered by a 2.2-litre four-cylinder common-rail turbo-diesel engine driving through the new Lancer Evo X four-wheel drive system and twin-clutch sequential-shifting transmission, but V6 power and front-wheel drive would also suit the production version.
Though built on a lightweight but strong Audi-style aluminium space-frame structure with recyclable plastic body panels, the production car would be expected to employ a conventional steel chassis.
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Mitsubishi 380's demise opens door for ZTFirst look: ZT could be Mitsu 380 successor