Future Concept: Future of Mitsubishi
Mitsubishi has finalized details on the GS44 sedan that replaces the compact Lancer
/ By Editors of Motor Trend
/ illustrators: Mark Stehrenberger
/
Article provided by: Motor Trend Magazine
Mitsubishi has finalized details on its bread-and-butter car, the GS44 sedan that replaces the compact Lancer--and more importantly, its 300-horsepower street-rally halo car, the Evolution. The Lancer design has a deep, low take on the new corporate grille. The new Evo's grille is much more aggressive-looking, evidenced by a sketch Mitsubishi released in Japan recently. The Evo IX will be a development of the current Evolution VII/VIII, so the new model is the X.
As for the quotidian Lancer, Mitsubishi plans a striking five-door with a greenhouse and pillars reminiscent of the Infiniti FX, but it's for Europe only. Mitsubishi had planned to develop a new global Galant, codenamed GS-G, off a stretched GS platform, but that project has been delayed. Still, despite Mitsu's schism with DaimlerChrysler, the GS platform will be used at Chrysler for the 2006 D80, a hatchback that looks like the 2003 Avenger concept, replacing the Neon, and for the 2007 Chrysler Sebring and Dodge Status replacements. Chrysler will continue to offer a sedan and convertible, while the Dodge will be a wagon, like the Magnum. The coupes are dead.
Other Mitsubishi updates:
2007 Montero: It'll be rugged and slab-sided, a traditional-looking SUV but like the current model, with independent rear suspension, to fill a market gap left by the flood of crossovers.
2006 Outlander: It'll grow just enough to accommodate a third-row seat, for seven passengers, and its far sleeker than the current car, similar in style to the (two-row) Nissan Murano. Europe gets a VW-sourced diesel engine option.