Hi folks, it’s your favorite and only choice for local automotive news, Matthew Barchetto. Japanese cars have always drawn me. My first real dream car was a Nissan 180SX. This love led me to the triple diamond gem, Mitsubishi.
Mitsubishi’s first notable car was the Mitsubishi 500, a cute little compact car made in 1960. A decade later, Mitsubishi released the Galant GTO. Massively important. Well, the GTO isn’t, but what it started is: Mitsubishi in rally.
In the meantime, in ‘82, Mitsubishi dropped an underrated gem, the Starion. When the 1983 Dakar endurance Rally hit, Mitsubishi took home a win with the Pajero, one of the only cool SUV’s ever made (objectively) in ‘82.
In the new decade of 1990, the 3000GT, an AWD sports car with active aero, hit the streets. In the same year, the Eclipse dropped, another AWD sports car which has been a staple ever since. In 1992, the first Lancer Evolution entered the World Rally Championship.
Mitsubishi tripped a little and walked with some low podium placings until 1995, when the Lancer Evo II kicked the door down, which started the win streak.
Tommi Makinen won four Driver’s Championships in a row, all in Lancer Evos. Forgot to mention that the FTO dropped in ‘94, but would any of you have noticed if I didn’t mention it? Anyways, the Evo goes on to win a total of 22 WRC tournaments, and many rallies worldwide.
It dropped in the states in 2003, winning Automobile magazine’s Automobile of the Year award.
Nothing gold can stay, unfortunately. In 2007, Mitsubishi launched the Lancer Evo X, and by 2017, it was six feet under. This was the last performance-oriented car they have made since. They took the Eclipse, our beloved coupe, and mangled it into a crossover SUV. The slog started in 2005, with the release of the outlander, a boring SUV. Then Mitsubishi did worse and worse in rallies, and dropped more uggos with each following year since. They quit rally in 2010.
It’s not over for Mitsubishi, however. They can claw their way out of mediocrity, which by the way, started because they were partially owned by Nissan from 2016-2024, so that’s another reason to hate Nissan. Mitsubishi, all you need to do is drop the Lancer XI. That’s all I ask for. Just a few billion in research and development to make another rally king. Rally and Lancer fans around the world would rejoice. It could even be an EV, and I’d be happy. Just something other than the bloody Outlander.
Images from wikimedia commons
