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Mitsubishi celebrates 40 years in UK with Evo festooned with aftermarket bits

Mitsubishi has an anniversary to celebrate. It has been selling cars in the UK for the last 40 years, and in recognition it is launching the Lancer Evolution X FQ-440 MR special edition with some real performance upgrades from top aftermarket companies. The models will be limited to 40 units in Frost White and priced at £50,000 each.
The special Evo uses a tweaked ECU to boost power to 440 horsepower and 412 pound-feet of torque with a six-speed, twin-clutch Sports Shift Transmission, and the engine receives a long list of augmentations with an intake, intercooler piping and tubular manifold from Janspeed, plus motorsport-specification, high-flow fuel injectors. To keep up with the acceleration, it gets six-piston front brake calipers and upgraded rear brakes behind 18-inch BBS forged alloy wheels. The suspension is lowered by 35 millimeters (1.378 inches) in the front and 30mm (1.181 inches) in the rear with Eibach coil springs.
The interior gets improvements to fit the performance upgrades. Leather-covered Recaro seats are found up front, along with an eight-speaker, Rockford Fosgate audio setup complete with a subwoofer. Navigation is standard with a seven-inch LCD touchscreen. The special edition definitely won't be making it to the US, but it's nice to see Mitsubishi commemorating itself with a performance model. Scroll down to get the full specs in the press release.

Mitsubishi NA gets new president and CEO

Last week, we told you that Mitsubishi will be getting a new global president, with Osamu Masuko stepping aside in favor of Tesuro Aikawa. The executive changes at the Japanese automaker are hitting closer to home, now, with official word that Mitsubishi Motors North America is getting a new president and CEO, as well. Effective March 1, Ryujiro Kobashi will take over for Yoichi Yokozawa, 49, who has been in charge since April of 2011. Yokozawa is headed back to Japan, where he will assume a spot in the company's corporate planning offices.
Kobashi, 53, has been with Mitsubishi since 1983 when he was fresh out of college. Previous to taking the top job in North America, he was installed as corporate general manager of the NA office at Mitsubishi's headquarters in Japan, where he coordinated regional operations for the US, Canada and Mexico. Before that, he held posts in planning, marketing, advertising and public relations for the company.
Kobashi takes over the company's North American operations at a pivotal time, when the region is finally showing signs of life after a prolonged period of stagnation. As Automotive News notes, Mitsubishi only sold 62,227 vehicles in the US in 2013, but that figure still represents an eight-percent increase. Its crossovers, the new-for-2014 Outlander and the two-year-old Outlander Sport have been selling relatively well, and the affordable Mirage subcompact is a new arrival at dealers.

Mitsubishi leaving US? No, it's doubling its marketing budget

We rarely hear any major news coming out of the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) annual meeting in Orlando, FL, but Mitsubishi executives found this a fitting place to announce a big push for increased advertising here in the US. A report in Automotive News states that the struggling Japanese automaker is returning to advertising in prime time television for the first time since 2005, with the push slated to begin in June and July for the launch of the 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander shown above.
Despite dwindling sales and a shrinking lineup, Mitsubishi's new North American chairman, Gayu Uesugi, has said on multiple occasions that the automaker has no plans to abandon the US market. Spending extra money on marketing and advertising should be a good start to help improve sales, but a lack of fresh and competitive products is also keeping showrooms empty. Aside from the new Outlander, the AN report says that Mitsubishi spokesman Roger Yasukawa said that a "yet-to-be-named subcompact" will arrive this year, which suggests the unnamed hatchback shown below (known elsewhere as the Mirage), could be heading to the US after its North American introduction at the Montreal Auto Show last month.