2003 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution on 2040-cars

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Mitsubishi boss says US operations may break even next year

Mitsubishi has lost money in its North America operations every year since 2007, but in an interview at this week's Tokyo Motor Show, company president Osamu Masuko said, "If things keep going well, it might be the case that we break even this year," Automotive News reports.
A little context: Last month Mitsubishi predicted that it would lower its operating loss in the region to 4-billion yen ($40.7 million) by March 31, the end of the fiscal year, well below the previous fiscal year's operating loss of more than five times that amount. Reflecting that, production at the Japanese automaker's sole North American factory in Normal, Illinois, has grown to 56,630 vehicles through October, compared to 27,339 through the same period last year.
The plant makes the Outlander Sport for the US and for export to markets such as Russia, the Middle East and Latin America. Interestingly, out of the 56,630 Outlander Sports built at the Illinois plant through October, only 20,150 were sold in the US.

Mitsubishi Concept GC-PHEV could hint at next-gen Montero [w/video]

In desperate need of some competitive new products, Mitsubishi showed up at the Tokyo Motor Show with three concept vehicles. The most important of them might just be this fullsize Concept GC-PHEV (Grand Cruiser). With its full-time four-wheel-drive system and roughly the right package size, we can only hope it hints at a future design for the Pajero/Montero.
Longer, taller and wider than the current Pajero (which is still offered in other markets), the Concept GC-PHEV is a big SUV with a fuel-efficient plug-in hybrid powertrain. A 335-horsepower, 3.0-liter supercharged V6 and an eight-speed automatic transmission are paired with a 94-hp electric motor and high-capacity battery to provide some serious brawn in a green wrapper. The result is targeted fuel consumption of 15 kilometers/liter on the Japanese cycle (around 35 miles per gallon) to go with an all-electric driving range of more than 25 miles.
Mitsubishi's styling team has arguably done a much better job with this Tokyo trio than we've seen from recent new products like the Outlander and Mirage, possibly suggesting a future design language for the automaker. In true concept car fashion, the design is Concept GC-PHEV is over the top, but it's not hard to imagine a vehicle of this size with similar cues gracing the Mitsubishi lineup at some point in the near future. Likewise, while the concept's interior only seats four, the sheer size of this vehicle could easily allow three rows of seats for a production model.

Watch Mitsubishi break the EV record at Pikes Peak

Take a listen folks - you're hearing the eventual future of motorsports. This is Greg Tracy and the Mitsubishi MiEV Evolution III as they assault the treacherous course at Pikes Peak in just 9:08.188.
This run is significant for a number of reasons. As we recapped in our Pikes Peak finale post, Tracy's run was a mere two seconds off the best overall time at this year's event, snagging him and Mitsubishi second place overall, as well as first in the Electric Modified class and the fourth fastest time ever recorded. Perhaps more importantly, though, Tracy thoroughly trounced the previous EV record at Pikes Peak, beating the legendary Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima's 2013 best of 9:46.530.
It's an impressive feat, and now you can experience the whole run from as near a first-person viewpoint as you're going to get. Scroll down and have a look.