Mitsubishi will launch a new all-wheel-drive turbo Lancer next year, aimed at Subaru’s cult car, the WRX.
Mitsubishi boss Robert McEniry says the new model, the Ralliart Lancer, will sit underneath its new Lancer Evo X, which will compete with the new WRX STi in the plus-$55,000 bracket. The move is a return to the Lancer’s roots.
Mitsubishi had a turbo all-wheel-drive Lancer GSR in 1991, three years before the Subaru WRX was released.
The GSR was discontinued in 1996 and the WRX went on to become a hit, with 26,000 sold since 1994.
In recent years the hot hatch market has grown substantially, with new models from Ford, Holden, Volkswagen, Mazda and Renault all costing about $40,000.
‘‘We will have two [sports] cars. It will be similar to [the Subaru line-up] with the WRX and STi,’’ McEniry says.
The Ralliart Lancer is expected on our roads by May next year and will be powered by a turbocharged 2.0-litre, four-cylinder engine.
It will form part of an all-new range for the Lancer, which last year replaced the slow selling 380 as the brand’s top seller in Australia.
McEniry says the Lancer is becoming increasingly important to Mitsubishi. ‘‘It will be a key, if not the key, in the passenger car line-up,’’ he says. ‘‘. . . it is just reflective of what is happening in the industry and the way the market is going. ‘‘The large-car segment will always be there – not just in Australia but around the world – but it is a contracting segment . . . and you have to cut your cloth accordingly.
‘‘The growth is in that medium four-cylinder, medium-sized car and I think it is going to stay.’’ McEniry says the Lancer, which is bigger than its main small-car rivals, will also attract medium-car buyers.
‘‘The Lancer straddles the small-medium segment. If you look at the Mazda line-up, in some ways it straddles both the [Mazda] 3 and 6,’’ he says.
McEniry says Mitsubishi will chase more fleet business with the new Lancer. Currently, fleets buy about one-third of Lancers. A new fleet campaign will begin next month.
The Lancer range will be released in three stages. The first will be the sedan in about September this year with three equipment levels.
Mitsubishi says the all-new 2.0-litre, four cylinder engine will be the standard engine which, despite its smaller capacity, has more power, torque and better fuel economy than the 2.4-litre engine it replaces.
There will also be an all-new 2.4-litre, which is expected to power the sporty VR-X model.
The new Lancer sedan is built on the underpinnings of the Outlander soft-roader and is bigger in all proportions than the old model.
The flagship Lancer Evo X will arrive before the Ralliart model and will have a more powerful turbocharged version of the same 2.0-litre engine. Shown at the Detroit motor show last month as a concept, the Evo X has a new look and for the first time will have an automated manual gearbox. It is believed Mitsubishi will continue with a five-speed manual gearbox.
It is shorter but wider and taller than its predecessor and has put on about 32kg.
Its all-wheel-drive system will be based on the current car’s electronically controlled set-up but the Evo X is expected to gain brake control and active suspension and steering systems.
For the first time, Mitsubishi will launch a hatch version of the Lancer towards the end of next year. There will be no Lancer wagon.
The company says the Australian model will look almost identical to the US version except with ‘‘less US chrome’’.
