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... it’s not our intention to quit the Evo ...
Mitsubishi will not desert the Evo, but it may be tamed.
Limited resources and an unstable world economy are forcing Mitsubishi to focus on core products and not on niche or ‘hero’ vehicles Like the Lancer Evolution, General Manager, Product Strategy, Koichi Namiki, said at the Tokyo Motor Show.
“If we had resources like Toyota then we might make some unique cars or a new market,” he said. “Unfortunately we don’t have the power of Toyota so we have to focus on certain areas where there are customers [for our cars].
“The Evo is a great product and it’s not our intention to quit the Evo, but in the future people will focus on environmentally-friendly products and if we make the same Evo in 20 years people will think that Mitsubishi Motors is crazy and not environmentally friendly. So we need to incorporate new aspects of what the customer wants in the future even in powerful and sport cars.”
Namiki said Mitsubishi does not have any “concrete ideas’ for a sportscar or new hero vehicle, but it sees possibilities in the future, depending on global conditions.
“The whole world is changing and we have to watch out – the United States and Europe are in big trouble right now,” he said.
“The emerging countries are now very ‘hot’ so have to look at many areas and focus on certain products because of limited resources.”
