Mitsubishi Evo X: Not being killed off. Sort of

Mitsubishi is reassuring us that the Evo is not being killed off, but we expect the Evo X to be replaced by a Mitsubishi Evo XI plug-in hybrid.

FaceSpace has been convinced that the Mitsubishi Evo X is about to go to  the great rally track in the sky, no longer to be the Playstation generation’s affordable supercar. Which would be a shame.

But it’s a reasonable conclusion for Facebookers to come to when Mitsubishi seems to be doing everything it can to undo its two big USPs – very convincing SUV (Shogun) and very convincing bonkers performance car (Evo) – in its headlong rush to be thought of as fluffy-bunny lovers whose cars eat CO2 for breakfast.

All of which seems to have rattled Mitsubishi a little, if this morning’s press release on the Evo is anything to go by. They’ve said that “…the iconic Mitsubishi Lance Evolution evolves” whilst banging on – quite rightly – about the Evo X’s ‘Rally car for the road’ credentials.

They then go on to say that “…automakers have a responsibility to take the lead in developing environmental initiatives… Our goal is to become a world leader in the reduction of CO₂ emissions on a global scale.” Sanctimonious claptrap – unfortunately the sort of daft statement car makers have to issue these days – but seemingly at odds with the eulogising of the Evo.

So where does that leave things for the Mitsubishi Evo XI? We think it will leave the Evo XI as a high-performance plug-in hybrid. It’s probably the only thing that makes sense. Mitsubishi still wants to big-up the Evo – quite rightly – but seems to be struggling to balance that with the fluffy-bunny stuff. A hybrid Evo XI could sort out their Bipolar problem.

Thankfully, we’ve got an Evo X FQ-300 GSR SST booked for review in June.

Which isn’t a hybrid.