Mitsubishi is focusing all its efforts where its strengths lie, according to Ryugo Nakao, head of the company's Product Projects and Strategy Group.
According to Nakao-san, Mitsubishi's strengths are SUVs, EVs and plug-in hybrids. Cars like the Lancer Evo (pictured), the Eclipse and FTO sports cars are rated side-show status at best.
There's a checks and balances equation that applies for any sports car or hot hatch/sedan from the Mitsubishi stable to make it into production from this point forward – it must meet the environmental standards foisted on car companies by legislative measures such as America's CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy).
Nakao-san says that the company is unlikely to return to the days when it built the Eclipses, FTOs, Cordia Turbos and Starions... without loading new models down with the extra weight of a hybrid-drive system.
"When the right timing comes, when we have the right technology... we would consider that in future," Nakao-san said, through an interpreter. The Mitsubishi exec had described the marketing of a petrol-only Evo as increasingly "difficult" in years to come.
Switching to English, the Mitsubishi product chief told Aussie journalists: "I think Evolution 10 is the last model with petrol engine."
Asked whether the platform-sharing venture with Renault-Nissan could lead to new sports cars wearing the Mitsubishi badge, Nakao-san said firstly that such cars would be developed by Mitsubishi alone – not with outside assistance. But then he poured cold water on any sports car development in the immediate near future: "At this moment, we have to concentrate on SUV, PHEV and EV."
His comments were subsequently supported and amplified by Mitsubishi president, Osamu Masuko.
"The sports car segment is [in decline] all over the world," he said through an interpreter.
The successful completion of the Asia Rally through Laos and Thailand in August by an Outlander PHEV was an example of the way alternative energy drivetrain systems and motor sport don't have to be mutually exclusive. And the company's campaign at the Pikes Peak hillclimb this year with a highly modified i-MiEV was further testament to that. But conventional sports models in the mode of hot hatch/convertible and road/rally turbo sedans are officially off the agenda at Mitsubishi.
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