Cashed-up Mitsu reveals more Lancer details

MITSUBISHI Motors Corporation released fresh pictures and details of its wild new Lancer Evolution X sedan yesterday – the same day it revealed figures that show MMC is in the black for the first time since 2002, despite slower sales globally in its financial year ending on March 31.

Presented as an "Exterior Study Model", the latest pictures of the redesigned Lancer Evo depict a vehicle that’s virtually identical to the “Prototype-X” concept Mitsubishi unveiled at the Detroit motor show in January, when the garden-variety version of the tenth-generation Lancer sedan also made its global debut.

The production Evo is expected to be equally faithful when it emerges at the Frankfurt motor show in September (not the Tokyo show in October as has been widely reported), ahead of its Australian release in March 2008 – six months after the all-new sedan upon which it’s based is released here (in October) and three months after the Evo goes on sale in mainland Europe (in December).

A redesigned five-door Lancer hatch (previewed by last year’s Concept-Sportback, which made its local debut at the Melbourne motor show in March) will be launched in Europe in September 2008, and is also expected on sale here later next year. Like the sedan, it will be based on the same "project global" platform that underpins the new Outlander compact SUV, and will be bigger in all key dimensions.

Along with the new pictures, Mitsubishi yesterday also confirmed the next-gen Evo will officially be named the "Lancer Evolution X" in Japan ("Lancer Evolution" elsewhere) and that, as widely speculated, it will be fitted with a six-speed automated manual transmission "that contributes to exceptional performance with improved fuel economy".

The new Evo X’s development concept is claimed to specify a "new-generation high-performance 4WD global sedan that allows all levels of driver to enjoy the car’s speed and handling with ease and in safety".

Based on a "new-generation global sedan with world-class levels of safety, environmental performance and comfort", the new Evo has been confirmed to a high-performance, turbocharged version of the new lightweight all-alloy 2.0-litre MIVEC four-cylinder engine that will power lesser Lancer sedans.

Mitsubishi says the new Lancer’s most distinguishing feature will be "a high-rigidity platform that delivers excellent crashworthiness".

In the Evo, its potential will be exploited by Mitsubishi’s Super All Wheel Control (S-AWC) all-wheel drive system, which "integrates the control of drive torque and braking management with the four-wheel drive system to help realize highly responsive and intuitive handling in addition to outstanding vehicle attitude stability".

"The car’s performance-driven design makes the car’s extreme potential clear, while cockpit design focuses the driver’s attention on operating his machine," says MMC.

Most of that extreme potential will be delivered by a new turbo four that produces more power and torque than the current Euro IV emissions-compliant 2.0-litre MIVEC turbo engine, which produces 206kW/355Nm.

Mitsubishi says quality and driving dynamics have come in for the most attention with the new Evo, but there’s speculation the new Evo engine could offer up to 240kW in its quest to out-point Subaru’s new Impreza STi, which will make its public premiere at October’s Tokyo show.

The entry Lancer will be powered by a 113kW MIVEC 2.0-litre four-cylinder, mated to a CVT transmission with a six-speed sports mode with paddle shifters.

Mitsubishi Motors Australia is also expected to introduce a Ralliart Lancer variant to bridge the gap between the base Lancer sedan and the Evo.

While it should be priced around $40,000 to compete with Subaru’s MkIII Impreza WRX (due on sale here in September), the Evo's current $57,000 pricetag is unlikely to change much.

In other Mitsubishi news, full-year results for the Japanese financial year ending on March 31 show the troubled car-maker’s consolidated sales for fiscal 2006 totalled 2 trillion, 202.9 billion yen - an increase of 82.8 billion yen over the previous fiscal year.

According to MMC: "Favourable yen exchange rates and a more profitable model mix more than offset decreases in retail sales volume and in the OEM supply volume resulting from the ending of the production of the Smart ForFour." MMC also announced an operating profit of 40.2 billion yen, an improvement of 33.4 billion yen over the previous fiscal year. Apart from exchange rates and the more profitable model mix, this was also due to reduced costs and Mitsubishi’s more profitable US financial service operation, which more than offset a rise in raw materials costs and increased sales costs in the US.

In ordinary profit terms, MMC made 18.5 billion yen, a year-on-year gain of 36.3 billion yen, thanks partly to an improvement in net interest income. The company reported a net income of 8.7 billion yen, an improvement of 100.9 billion yen.

It is the first MMC has been in the black at all levels (operating, ordinary and net profits) for the full financial year since fiscal 2002.

In terms of sales, the company retailed 1,232,000 vehicles globally in fiscal 2006 - a decrease of 112,000 sales or 8.3 per cent compared to the 1,344,000 it sold in fiscal 2005.

Broken down, the 1.232 million vehicle total includes 247,000 in Japan (down 3.9% or 10,000 units year-on-year), 164,000 in North America (up 5.1% or 8000 units, thanks largely to strong sales of the new Eclipse Spyder and Outlander), 282,000 in Europe (up 5.6% or 15,000 units courtesy of more sales in Russia and the Ukraine, where sales doubled) and 539,000 in Asia and other regions (down a big 18.8% or 125,000, due mostly to slower production in Taiwan and China).

On the back of Outlander and Lancer, MMC has forecast a 7.4 per cent boost in global sales volume during fiscal 2007 to 1.323 million vehicles – up 91,000 on last year. It also plans to return an ordinary profit of 30 billion yen, a year-on-year increase of 62.2 per cent or 11.5 billion yen, and a full-year net profit of 20 billion yen, a 2.3-fold increase over fiscal 2006.

According to MMC, in fiscal 2007 it will: commence supplies of the Outlander-based SUV to PSA Peugeot-Citroen introduce more variants of its all-new Delica D:5 model in Japan and elsewhere integrate 29 Japanese sales companies into five add the Evo X to the Lancer sedan range it launched in the US in March improve it US plant’s productivity and profitability launch the new Pajero, Outlander and Lancer in Latin America, Middle East and Africa and increase sales of its Triton, Pajero and Outlander (and Lancer sedan) models in Australia.

Fiscal 2007 is the final year of the Mitsubishi Motors Revitalization Plan introduced in fiscal 2005 to turn the company’s fortunes around.

Having parted ways with DaimlerChrysler, MMC will this year announce a new mid-term business plan based on its 2007 performance, "the principal thrust of which will be the creation of an infrastructure that will underpin sustainable future growth".

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First look: Lancer Evo X surfaces