Archive for Mitsubishi

It’s common practice in Europe to sell commercial vehicles of small hatchbacks designed to carry one or two people at the front and a pure cargo carrying layout at the rear, so there are even things like the Peugeot 207 Van.

Mitsubishi is doing just that, as the Japanese car manufacturer is developing a commercial version of the Mitsubishi i MiEV electric hatchback (passenger version shown above) that is designed to handle cargo. The commercial i MiEV “van” will be launched in 2009, but production volume will be limited by the supply of lithium ion batteries available. The electric i-van will be offered in global markets, not just in Japan. It could be stretched or have a different bodyshell based on a stretched chassis to increase cargo area.

According to Mitsubishi, electric vehicles are quite suitable as commercial delivery vehicles as they have predictable driving patterns, relatively short ranges and they return to a common garage so planning the vehicle’s recharging schedule is easier.

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Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia recently launched an upmarket variant of its Triton pickup truck series. This new variant, designated as the Triton 3.2 brings the total models available to 4. These are the Triton Lite available in manual mode only, Triton 2.5 which is offered both in automatic and manual transmission options and the fore mentioned 3.2, available in only automatic. We’ve just finished putting the new Triton 3.2 through its paces. Read Harvinder Singh’s write-up after the jump.

Click here to read the rest of Mitsubishi Triton 3.2 Test Drive Report

The high price of a high powered version of what is still essentially a Japanese C-segment sedan may be a deterrent to those who are considering the Lancer Evolution X and find that its price comes too close to cars like the BMW 325i Sports especially in Malaysia. The BMW, while alot less powerful, still offers an interior that is so much more premium and ultimately to alot of people the nicer car to be in when you aren’t pushing it. It seems that the Evo’s interior isn’t much different from the Lancer’s – plasticky!

Mitsubishi attempts to solve this in Japan at least with the GSR Premium Edition, which slots in at the top of the line above the standard GSR and the stripped out RS. The Premium Edition adds 18 inch BBS alloy wheels, fog lamps, leather Recaro buckets, side and curtain airbags, and a Rockford Fostage 9-speaker premium audio system. It’s the seats that give the interior ambiance a whole different feel – the design and the leather gives it a much more premium feel compared to the standard GSR and the even emptier RS which comes with fabric non-bucket seats.

Look after the jump for a few more shots of the Evo X GSR Premium.

Click here to read the rest of New Premium trim level for Lancer Evolution X

Mitsubishi quietly revealed a high-powered version of the Mitsubishi L200 (known as the Triton here) at the 2008 Paris Motor Show with the “2.5Di-D High-Power” designation.

The 2009 L200 2.5 Di-D High-Power features a 2.5 liter engine that produces much more power than in its 136 PS standard form. In fact, the figures are even higher than the recently launched Triton 3.2L!

The new engine gets a 29% power boost up to 178 PS at 4,000rpm and 400Nm of torque at 2,000rpm for manual versions or 350Nm of torque for automatic versions. Fuel consumption is 8.5 liters of diesel per 100km while CO2 output is 223g/km.

The 2009 L200 also gets better sound and vibration insulation, additional side airbags for the Club Cab varaint, side and curtain airbags for the Double Cab, and a new front seat design with improved cushion and side support.

If you pair this new high performance engine with the Walkinshaw Performance Sport Pack Upgrade, your L200/Triton will surely be a riot! The upgrade pack (an estimated £2,595.00 – RM16k – inclusive of installation) replaces the L200’s rear solid axle with a multi-link rear suspension featuring coil springs.

Other enhancements in the Walkinshaw pack include PU performance bushes for increased axle control, rubber performance chassis bushes for reduced road noise transmission, Koni performance shocks for the front and rear as well as a stainless steel twin tailpipe performance exhaust.

I’m sure that somewhere along the way inside Mitsubishi’s headquarters a bunch of people have been telling their design theme that the whole shark nose theme (Mitsubishi calls it a “Jet Fighter” grille) that the Lancer has going on won’t work on a small car.

But they didn’t listen, so here you have the Mitsubishi Colt major facelift for the 2009 model year. Mitsubishi claims only 35.1% carry-over parts from the pre-facelift Colt.

The new Colt also introduces the new Clear Tec brand that indicates which Colt variants are especially friendly to the environment, which will also include a Flex Fuel vehicle that will probably be able to run on petrol or a mixture of ethanol and petrol.

The Mitsubishi Colt CZT hot hatch receives a new name – the Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart, and is now available in both 3-door and 5-door form. It continues to have a 1.5 liter turbocharged engine putting out 150 PS. The suspension has had 8 different changes in different points including a thicker front stabilizer bar to reduce body roll.

Non-Ralliart engine options include a 1.1 liter inline-3 petrol engine with 75 PS and 100Nm of torque, a 1.3 liter petrol engine with 95 PS and 125Nm of torque and a 1.5 liter petrol engine with 109 PS and 145Nm of torque. These are mated to either a 5-speed manual or an AllShift automated manual gearbox.

Note that other markets come with a CVT transmission instead of this AMT transmission, including the ones we have in Malaysia. The diesel Colt has been discontinued as the pre-facelift sales mix consisted of only 13% oil burning Colts.

Look after the jump for plenty of hi-res photos of the new Colt.

Click here to read the rest of 2009 Mitsubishi Colt unveiled: details and photos!

Here are some new photos released of both the regular and Ralliart version of the Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback.

The Lancer Sportback is essentially a hatch version of the Lancer to attack the European market and currently has three engine choices – a 109 horsepower 1.5 liter, a 143hp 1.8 liter gasoline engine or a 2.0 liter turbodiesel with 140 horsepower. The 2.0 liter 4B11 that we’ve grown to know seems to be missing from the lineup, but the 1.8 liter unit is also from the 4B/GEMA family.

The Ralliart Lancer Sportback is powered by a 2.0 liter turbocharged engine tuned to produce less power than the Evo X but still registers a respectable 240 horsepower and 343Nm of torque on the crank.

This is mated to either a 5-speed manual or a Twin Clutch SST transmission. Word is that even the regular Lancer Sportback will be able to enjoy the Twin Clutch SST transmission, but we’ll see if this is true at the official unveiling at the 2008 Paris show.

Look after the jump for a full hi-res gallery of the Sportback and the Ralliart.

Click here to read the rest of Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback and Lancer Sportback Ralliart set for Paris 2008 debut

Mitsubishi will be unveiling a mysterious new model at the 2008 Paris Motor Show and above is the newly released teaser image of the car. It generally looks like the Lancer but the larger headlamps seem to point to the direction of either a compact hatchback car or an SUV of sorts as that front certain will not look good on a sedan.

Some are speculating a production version of the Mitsubishi Concept-cX, and others point to a facelifted Mitsubishi Colt with the Lancer design cues applied to it. We’ll know at the Paris Motor Show.

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The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution is now in Malaysia, priced at RM 315,436.10 on the road without insurance together with a 1 year or 20,000km warranty. This is more expensive than what the Lancer Evolution 9 was asking for (a tad over RM280K), however looking at the specs list there are lots of extra comforts that seem to justify the sticker price.

The Evo 9 was quite a barebones car – it had the powerful engine and the advanced all-wheel drive system but that was it. It had manual climate control and a very basic audio system. In contrast to that, the new Lancer Evolution features a premium 9-speaker Rockford Fosgate Premium Sound System, and comfortable and relaxed cruising is very much achievable thanks to the automatic mode of the Twin Clutch SST gearbox. This time the officially imported Evolution comes without that pesky 180km/h JDM speed limiter!

Continue reading for the rest of the details…

Click here to read the rest of New Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution now in Malaysia!

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Mitsubishi has unveiled proper photos of the Mitsubishi Racing Lancer MRX09 in action, after previously releasing an artist’s rendering of it back in July. The Mitsubishi Racing Lancer replaces the Pajero Evolution in the Dakar rally. It has covered more than 8,000km in testing and competition in order for engineers to develop new suspension geometry to suit different weight distributions and torque characteristics.

It isn’t really based on a Lancer, instead it is built on a tubular steel frame with a Lancer sportsback-based carbon fiber “skin” put over it. It measures 4,475mm long, 1,990mm wide and has a 2,900mm wheelbase.

Powering it is a 3.0 liter V6 turbodiesel putting out over 260 horsepower and 650Nm of torque. “The diesel version is overwhelmingly easy to drive thanks to its tremendous torque which is available over an even broader rev-band. It outperforms the petrol-powered car in terms of controllability over challenging terrain, as well as when accelerating out of corners and along high-speed straights. With the right set-up it would be comfortably faster,” said Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart driver Hiroshi Masuoka.

Look after the jump for two more photos of the new rally contender.

Click here to read the rest of Mitsubishi Racing Lancer MRX09 in action!

The new Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X will hit the streets of Malaysia this week through official importer/distributor Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia Sdn Bhd. As of time of posting, a countdown timer on the Lancer Evolution teaser microsite shows another 2 days and 22 hours until launch its launch on the 21st of August 2008.

The teaser site lists the Twin Clutch SST gearbox as one of the features, so the twin clutch model is sure to be in – the only question would be if the manual model will be available. The car will have Recaro bucket seats done up in combination leather.

More updates to come later when the car is officially launched!