Mitsubishi Evo XI Hybrid Diesel confirmed

Mitsubishi boss has said the Evo XI will drop its existing engine and instead get a diesel electric hybrid. Just as we predicted.

There was much speculation earlier this year that Mitsubishi were going to drop the Evo from its range, leading to much angst amongst teenage boys with pizza faces. But we reckoned we would instead see the new Mitsubishi Evo XI arrive with a hybrid powerplant. And so it is.

Mitsubishi boss Osamu Masuko has said that Mitsubishi will be starting work on the Evo XI in the next year, and that it will be ready to roll in 2014.

It also seems that the hybrid powertrain which will underpin the Evo XI isn’t going to be a petrol electric hybrid, but a diesel powered one. Which won’t go down at all well with the fan boys.

But we think it may well go a step further than that.

Mitsubishi has been trying to distance itself from its perceived raison d’etre – 4WD and performance – for some time, and is keen to drop its average CO2 levels and be seen as an environmentally aware company.

But dropping its big SUVs and performance models would simply drop it in to the middle of the mire that all car companies are occupying as they seek to look ‘Green’. So they need to find a way to combine their history and expertise with the mad requirements of modern CO2 expectations.

That means heading down the hybrid route with a passion, and we reckon that as well as the diesel hybrid for the new Evo – which will doubtless produce a lot of grunt – Mitsubishi are planning on making the Evo hybrid a plug-in hybrid.

With the daft official computations for CO2 and economy on hybrid and electric cars, Mitsubishi can make a big dent by going the plug-in hybrid route for their performance and off-road cars, hence the hybrid lump for the Evo XI.

In truth, we’d much rather have seen Mitsubishi go the plug-in petrol hybrid route and keep the emissions that matter – NOx and particulates – in check, rather than pandering to the pointless imperative to reduce CO2.

But as a business case, the plan to endow the Mitsubishi Evo XI with a plug-in diesel hybrid is very sensible.