1995 Mitsubishi 3000gt Vr4 on 2040-cars

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Turns out Mitsubishi's history is far more interesting than we thought

Former Autoblog editor-in-chief Mike Austin was kind enough to drop this little nugget onto Twitter yesterday: the history of Mitsubishi timeline on the company's press website. Basically, it's a virtual museum, spanning from the 1917 Mitsubishi Model A to the 2008 Galant Fortis Sportback. Frankly, it's not that surprising that they didn't go much further beyond that, but still, the timeline provides both a fun trip down memory lane and an introduction to fun and/or wacky JDM models we never got.  Besides showing photos, there's actually a sizable amount of info for each, which has quite clearly and often delightfully been translated from Japanese. Take the New Minica Toppo that "adopted a 1:2 door configuration with a single door on the driver's side and two doors on the passenger side (think a Hyundai Veloster), as well as a 'Super High Roof' that added 70 mm to the height of the standard roof ... Addressing the desire to drive something a little different, the lineup was soon joined by a number of variants with personalities designed to bring more fun to the class and including the recreation specification Carabosse, the young mother and baby-oriented Marble, and the Town Bee with its round frog-eye headlamps projecting just forward of the leading edge of the engine hood." Also, check out those diagonal door handles. There are more than just JDM kei car oddities, however. There's the Mitsubishi FTO, which you may remember from Gran Turismo and other racing video games from back in the day. It was "a car that delivered fun-to-drive qualities in abundance (and) was selected 1994-1995 Japan Car of the Year." If you didn't know, it was called the FTO because it slotted below the Mitsubishi GTO, the car you know as the 3000GT. I didn't know that before. Thanks, timeline! There's also the off-roady JDM Delica vans that are now all over the Pacific Northwest having surpassed the 25-year import embargo. The 1994 Delica Space Gear (above left) was notable in that it moved the engine under the hood rather than beneath the front seats where it was previously (above right with the Delica Star Wagon), but according to the timeline "The Gear variant name was added in the belief that customers would become attached to it as a familiar 'piece of gear' for leisure and everyday purposes." Judging by the ones I see around here in Portland, mission accomplished. "Suspension was by double wishbone at the front and a 5-link with coil spring arrangement at the rear.

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution will live through 2015

If it were only so easy for humans. Mitsubishi has extended the life of the Lancer Evolution X by at least a year. An MMNA spokesperson tells AutoGuide that it is "committed to introducing the 2015 model year Lancer Evolution," noting that production for said models will begin in July. This gives us a year of clarity about the future of a model whose future blinks in and out of existence quicker than a boson particle.
As far as we can tell, the Evo as we know it is definitely going to die, the question is when. In March, Mitsubishi said it "does not have any plans to design a successor with the current concept, as a high-performance four-wheel drive gasoline-powered sedan." What is rumored to fill the hole left by the Evo might or might not be a linear descendent, but is expected to be some kind of hybridized high-performance model about which much has been speculated.
MMNA PR manager Alex Fedorak told Autoblog, "Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. (MMNA) is committed to introducing the 2015 model year Lancer Evolution in the U.S. Production of North American-specification Lancer Evolution models for the 2015 model year will commence in July 2014." Our previous advice still stands, however, even with the extension: If you want one, get an Evo while you can.

Mitsubishi Geoseek Concepts sport new paint, not much else

While the company may be on life support here in the United States, Mitsubishi still sells cars in a great many markets across the globe. That includes Europe, which is probably why Mitsubishi trotted out a pair of concepts at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show. But as you'll see, calling them concepts is generous. Both vehicles are based on actual production models, the L200 pickup and the ASX (Europe's version of the Outlander Sport), and wear the Geoseek name. Both Geoseek cars are production models that have just been fitted with "tough-look added accessories geared toward outdoor enthusiasts." We can't exactly spot what accessories Mitsu is talking about, though. The most obvious changes are to the grilles, which are mesh. Both the L200 and ASX also get a new underbody skid plate in front. Cosmetic changes include the Pearl Gray paint and orange accents. There's also orange trim in the cabin, although Mitsubishi acknowledges that the interior is mostly black. The L200 does get a rather nifty looking roof rack with integrated lights and handles, while the ASX gets LED fog lights. So yeah, these might be called concepts, but there's really not a lot going on besides the paint and the roof rack on the L200. Still, you can check out both cars at the top of the page. Related Video: Featured Gallery Mitsubishi ASX Geoseek Concept: Geneva 2016 View 10 Photos Related Gallery Mitsubishi L200 Geoseek Concept: Geneva 2016 View 9 Photos Image Credit: Live photos copyright 2016 Drew Phillips / AOL Geneva Motor Show Mitsubishi Truck Crossover Economy Cars 2016 geneva motor show mitsubishi asx mitsubishi l200