Team-BHP - Death of a Legend. Mitsubishi India discontinues Lancer EVO

Mitsubishi India has quietly discontinued Lancer EVO-X. Mitsubishi India's website states that the production has been laid to rest.

As a part of global restructuring operation of Mitsubishi Motors, the Lancer EVO is being slowly phased out globally (with no replacement in sight). Mitsubishi will now focus more on fuel efficient cars (e.g. Mirage, Attrage along with electric and hybrid cars) instead of cars with sports characteristics (e.g. Lancer EVO) for which Mitsubishi was known till now.

Globally, there are certain rumours of Lancer EVO-XI to return in form of a diesel hybrid but no concrete information has come out till now.

Source: http://mitsubishi-motors.co.in/lancer-evo.php

Team-BHP Lancer EVO review: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/offici...ve-review.html

Sad to see a legend die :(
Although it didn't do well in India, but it was still a nice car and sold in reasonable numbers abroad due to its justifiable price tag there.
Don't know why Mitsubishi did this. But who knows they might come up with something even better :)

Sigh. The EVO was one of my favorite cars.

Whats confusing is that with every manufacturer downsizing and turbocharging, the EVO was way ahead in the game. They have always been around the 2L engines and turbo charging? Ain't they eco friendy?:D

Sad to see a legend die.

Quote:

Originally Posted by petroguzzler (Post 3150595)

Even though they are relatively small and turbocharged, the Evo engines are nowhere near eco friendly! lol:

It's really sad to see the rally legend's demise in India!

Though it came to India after much anticipation guess Mitsubishi didn't receive the kind of reception they hoped for :Frustrati

The EVO will be missed ! (Guess I'll have to import it when I make that kinda money :D )

Affordability apart, this car is one which defines wolf in sheep's clothing to the core. I still remember reading in US automags ( Yes, I used to read US mags earlier ) how the comparo of Corvette and viper with Evo lead to massive brickbats from automag readers. They simply could not digest the fact that Evo was almost as fast, much better overall in almost all aspects, practical daily drive along with fun to drive soul.

Mitsubishi has been a force to reckon with, they were quite early with GDI tech, their diesel motors are considered as good as Toyota and Isuzu as far as reliability and durability go. But somehow, luck did not favor them. IIRC, Mitsubishi are also the first to have diesel engines with variable valve timing. Its really heart breaking to see a very nice ( and can we say Legendary ? ) car and manufacturer go down like this. The Lancer which was Mitsubishi's entry in India is still one of the most timeless designs IMO. Today's fluidic and arrowshots design just trail in comparison to that model.

This means there is no more competition to the Subaru Imperza ( which now is having a solid support in form of Toyota ).

Don't think anyone's surprised. Very frustrating to see how Mitsubishi's treated some of its products, for instance:

1. Not much marketing support (was there any at all?) for the Evo - killing it before even giving it a fighting chance.

2. Their treatment of the Cedia almost verges on the motor equivalent of child abuse!! Such a good car, excellent suspension to tackle our speed breakers - left in the wild to die an an inglorious death, after being treated to a sub-optimal life!

Mitsubishi in India makes one wonder what their game plan really is - launch good products and then neglect them doesn't quite seem to be cutting it for them thus far. Will someone there please wake up and get serious about India!! please:

Quote:

Originally Posted by sarthakgupta (Post 3150538)

Wasn't this variant priced really high on account of import duties?

No way it would succeed at that kind of price point.

Mod Note : There are several spelling & grammatical errors in your posts. This negatively affects the forum experience for other readers.

Kindly ensure that you proof-read your posts prior to submission. Also, it would be a good idea to use spell-checkers.

Well, it was priced for death!

The on-road Mumbai price ran over 60 lakhs. Mitsubishi dealers are becoming a rare breed (have seen two shutdowns in Mumbai) and the warranty was for a mere 6 months / 10,000 kms (coverage from the Ambassador days).

This car should have sold for no more than 35 lakhs. Even as an enthusiast, there are other cars I'd buy over the EVO X. It would never make it to my shortlist.

If manufacturers can't price & support a car in the right way, it's best for them to avoid launching it in the first place. Yes Maruti Kizashi, I'm hinting at you too.

There was a straight-up fight in the US market between the Evo and the Subaru WRX. This points that Subaru has stood its ground pretty well in the enthusiast segment and outplayed the Evo.

Nonetheless, the exteriors are pretty sleek and refined. I wish they'd just transfer that shell over to whichever lower priced option they'll put up after this.

To me the worst thing Mitsubishi did was partnering with Hindustan Motors of all the things. How would a Japanese car company known for its ground breaking technology development go in sync with a lazy old Indian car company that has been using the same chassis for the last 50 years of so?? This was obviously a marriage made in hell.

Sad to see my favorite car go away just like that. Again I wouldn't mind if its gone too. Thanks to our "tax literally everywhere" policy who on earth could afford one? Not me. But still if I could....