2006 Mitsubishi Galant on 2040-cars

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James May was hospitalized after Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution crash

British auto journalist and TV host James May was reportedly whisked to the hospital after a crash during filming of The Grand Tour. The presenter was said to have been driving a yellow Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII at 75 mph when he crashed into a tunnel wall.  Fortunately, The Sun reports that May, 59, broke a rib during the crash and required x-rays and a brain scan before being released from the hospital in mostly good health. This was not always the case with the former BBC Top Gear hosts. Famously, Richard Hammond received severe injuries from a 2006 crash at 280 mph in a drag racer. Hammond was also involved in a fiery crash of a Rimac One in 2017, but walked away mostly uninjured.  The details of the crash are a bit vague, but apparently it involved a challenge where May was supposed to drive the Evo down a long tunnel at a naval base in Norway. The Sun describes the stunt as taking place in the pitch black passage, with lights only illuminating as the car drove by. With mere seconds to react, May was unable to brake in time from 75 mph and slammed the Evo into a wall. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings. The segment apparently involved May, Hammond, and Jeremy Clarkson taking AWD sedans to the Arctic Circle. Two other cars have been posted to social media by Clarkson himself and by fans, as discovered by Motor 1. Those cars are a Subaru Impreza WRX STI and an Audi RS4. After the Evo's destruction, the Subaru and Audi continued on without it. The cars were driving in Norway six months ago, but May's hospitalization is only now coming to light.  Thankfully Captain Slow, as May is nicknamed, is alright. As for the state of the increasingly endangered Evo, however, we'll just have to wait until the next season of Grand Tour airs.

Mitsubishi looks to crossovers and EVs for US success

Say what you will about Mitsubishi, but the Japanese automaker is slowly seeing a resurgence here in the United States. December 2015 marked the company's twenty-second consecutive month of year-over-year sales increases, and looking at last year as a whole, Mitsubishi's sales were up 23 percent over 2014. Ken Konieczka, Mitsubishi's vice president of sales operations, says that in order to stay successful, the company will bet big on crossovers and electric vehicles in the coming years. And that means a relatively aggressive product plan here in the US. First up, a brand-new CUV will launch in early 2018, previewed by the eX Concept that debuted at last year's Tokyo Motor Show (pictured). Konieczka says Mitsubishi is making room for this new crossover in its lineup – the Outlander will slowly get bigger, and the Outlander Sport will get smaller. The production version of the eX will slot between those two. Speaking of the Outlander siblings, both will be replaced in the next five years. A new, larger Outlander will arrive in 2019, and the smaller Outlander Sport will arrive in 2020. To fulfill the electric side of the business, Konieczka confirms the next Outlander Sport will sprout an EV variant, and the Outlander plug-in hybrid will launch in the United States later in 2016, as a 2017 model. As for the rest of the company's portfolio, Mitsubishi will offer the updated Mirage hatchback and new G4 sedan later this year. The future for the Lancer, however, looks grim. Konieczka says Mitsubishi still can't find an OEM partner to help create and produce a new Lancer, and our gut says the compact sedan will be phased out in the very near future. "We made a lot of mistakes," Konieczka admits, saying Mitsubishi was "spread too thin [and] had too many models" in the past. This new, more focused approach on EVs and crossovers certainly sounds promising, and will hopefully help Mitsubishi continue its slow growth here in the US market. Still, we won't know for sure until the new products actually reach showrooms. But for now, at least, things are steadily on the rise.

Junkyard Gem: 2001 Mitsubishi Eclipse GT coupe

2001 was an eventful year for sport compacts, with "The Fast and the Furious" hitting the big screen and the "spider eye" Acura Integra entering its final model year. Mitsubishi Motors North America had released a new version of the Eclipse the year before, bigger and more luxurious than its predecessors; today's Junkyard Gem is one of those third-generation Eclipses, the fastest and most furious version available in 2001: a GT coupe with V6 engine and five-speed manual transmission, found in a Colorado Springs boneyard recently. Named for a 17th-century racehorse, the Eclipse (not to be confused with the present-day Eclipse Cross) began life in the 1990 model year as a Galant-based liftback coupe built in partnership with Chrysler at the new Diamond-Star Motors plant in Normal, Illinois (where Rivians are born today). Chrysler sold its own versions of the Eclipse for a while, with the Plymouth Laser produced through 1994 and the Eagle Talon surviving until the Eagle brand's demise in 1998. By the time this car was built, its closest relatives were the Galant, the Chrysler Sebring coupe and the Dodge Stratus coupe. The MSRP for the GT Coupe was $20,947, or about $35,789 in 2023 dollars. You could get a brand-new Integra GS-R for $22,300 ($38,101 today) in 2001, while the Dodge Neon ACR listed at just $13,845 ($23,655 now). This car was quite a bit more powerful than the 170-horsepower Integra GS-R, with this 3.0-liter 6G72 V6 and its 210 horses under the hood. The workhorse 6G72 went into far too many Mitsubishi, Chrysler and Hyundai vehicles to list here; highlights include the Chrysler TC by Maserati, the Chrysler LeBaron, the Mitsubishi Montero/Dodge Raider, the Mitsubishi Diamante and the Mitsubishi 3000GT/Dodge Stealth. This car has the five-speed manual transmission, as is proper. Buyers who insisted on the four-speed automatic had to shell out an extra grand, or $1,709 after inflation. This car appears to have been in decent cosmetic condition when it arrived at its final parking spot. These stickers were mandatory equipment on Eclipses during the 2000s. Likewise with multiple-bolt-pattern aftermarket wheels. This generation of Eclipse stayed in production through 2004, with its successor continuing to be sold through 2012. This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.