SMMT Test Day 2016 69

The Mitsubishi Evo is Dead?

The death of yet another icon

Well I say dead, it’s more like it’s on life support just waiting for the plug to be pulled. Mitsubishi’s company chairman and CEO Osamu Masuko said, “Mitsubishi’s Evo performance brand won’t be used on future saloon models”. He did however go on to say that the brand could live on in a plug-in hybrid SUV.

Time to call it a day?

The first Mitsubishi Evo came out way back in 1993 based off its Lancer platform, the performance brand was known for its speed and its long-running competition with the Subaru Impreza both in the showrooms and on the rally stages.

The world has changed

Mitsubishi claim that stopping the Evo is due to environmental concerns and falling sales. Now environmental concerns are understandable in our new eco-centric world in which we live, but Mitsubishi haven’t released a new Evo since 2007. The Evo X has lived the longest life of any Evo model and Mitsubishi would surely see a rise in sale if they would simply make a new one.

Time to let it go

Mitsubishi claim that the Evo brand can live on as a high-performance hybrid SUV with rumours saying that the new 2016 ASX could be its base platform. If the Evo has to go then please let it die as it should, don’t prolong its life in some reasonably fast crossover vehicle.

SMMT Test Day 2016 66

The competition is more fierce than ever

When Subaru released the most recent Impreza, they were almost forced by fans to make a WRX performance version, as a result it felt half-hearted and not very good and has thus been forgotten. It is probably time for the Impreza to die as well, as time has not been kind to either of these cars, they are facing competition from all sides, Ford, VW, hell even Mercedes with the A45. Both the Evo and the Impreza’s time has passed; and I think it is time to let them go.

Sources: Mitsubishi Car&Driver AutoBlog

1 Comment

  • justin Says

    No one can deny that these had a great run especially being so popular for so long. Maybe one day they’ll bring em back for a “reunion tour”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *