Fans of affordable performance, rejoice. Maybe. Get cautiously ready to rejoice.
Mitsubishi’s mothballed Ralliart performance division is making a comeback. But its first product may not be the hot sedan for which the brand is renowned.
The Japanese company announced the pending return of Ralliart earlier this year. Now, the day when shoppers can once again test drive Ralliart-tuned vehicles appears near.
Mitsubishi has released a teaser photo hinting at a concept it will reveal at January’s Tokyo Auto Salon. The photo doesn’t reveal much. Just a rear diffuser integrated into the bumper of a black vehicle, wearing the Ralliart logo.
Ralliart, for those of you who don’t remember, was once a subdivision of Mitsubishi that made high-performance flavors of more vanilla cars. For its best trick, it took the Lancer – an affordable compact car not known for its racing genes – and turned it into the Lancer Evolution. The so-called Evo was a turbocharged, firm-handling, all-terrain sedan that dueled with the Subaru WRX for control of rally racing circuits and the hearts of kids playing video games for the better part of a decade.
The new teaser, sadly, is not a new Evo. The company says it “brings together Mitsubishi Motors’ engineering and passion for Monozukuri challenges (craftsmanship). With a premium-feel and a strong sense of presence,” and gives no other hints. About the only thing we can tell from the photo is that it shows the liftgate of an SUV.
That makes sense, as SUVs make up much of Mitusbishi’s current lineup. A Ralliart edition of the Outlander or Outlander Sport would be a logical way to reintroduce Americans to the idea of rally-inspired Mitsubishis. We’ll know more in a month.
