US-Spec Mitsubishi Mirage Will Have 3-Cylinder 1.2L

Cheap and not very cheerful is what Japanese carmaker Mitsubishi has in store for its US customers. Suzuki has stopped selling cars in America after years of bad sales figures, but the guys with the three-diamond logo still think they’ve got the US’s number, and it has three cylinders!

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Mitsubishi Mirage will launch in US with three-cylinder engine

We have a date with Mitsubishi Mirage (again). The Japanese subcompact is slated to arrive on our shores in September 2013, and it's one of the product offerings meant to help Mitsubishi's US arm raise sales in its next financial year from 55,000 to 80,000. If next year were 1989, we'd say there's no reason that couldn't happen, but from what we've seen, the Mirage is so magnificently meek (have you seen the interior?) that we aren't sure how it will manage that kind of US sales aggression in the 21st century.

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X-Race Germany Tunes Mitsubishi ASX RS

Our gut feeling tells us that the car world is hot for faster subcompact crossovers right now, but automakers are slow to pick up on the trend. Other then the MINI Countryman JCW edition, nothing flips our boat in this way.

We still have a long way to go until Nissan finally shows the Nismo Juke. But there’s another Japanese carmaker that knows even more about go-fast all-wheel drive cars, and it’s Mitsubishi. Their products lack that luster they once had, and the Evo isn’t exactly the popular car it used to be, but there’s still hope for the ASX, or Outlander Sport as it’s called in some markets.

We recently found a brand new project coming from a little known German tuner called X-Race, who seems to have specialized in the Mitsubishi car brand for now.

Details are scarce, but the X-Race Mitsubishi ASX boasts a set of custom racing stripes in red, together with accents for the mirrors. A custom stainless-steel sports exhaust with twin pipes has also been fitted, improving the look of the car in combination with the radical ASA GT III wheels.

Via: autoevolution

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Toyota CEO lists favorite cars from other automakers

During a meeting of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, Toyota president Akio Toyoda offered a "Chapeau!" to his fellow CEOs by listing his favorite cars from other makers. He listed just one vehicle from five makers represented on the board, in alphabetical order: the Honda, Isuzu Bellett, Mazda Cosmo, Mitsubishi Pajero (our Montero) and Nissan Skyline.

Toyoda didn't give his reasons for choosing these car beyond each being "memorable." Even so, going through the list any car enthusiast knows the Honda (Acura in the States) NSX needs no introduction nor explanation. The Mitsubishi Pajero is probably as well known for it's off-road excellence as it is for its name change in Spanish-speaking lands due to the word "pajero" – all the more intriguing when it's apparently named after an Argentine cat, Leopardus pajeros. And although the "Skyline" moniker was made famous overseas by the GT-R, the Nissan Skyline that Toyoda references has a long history and is our Infiniti G.

The Mazda Cosmo (pictured) was an Italian-esque little coupe produced from 1967 to 1995, the first series production vehicle with a two-rotor rotary engine. The Isuzu Bellett was that firm's in-house replacement for the English Hillmans it was rebranding, the first Japanese car to get GT badging (it would also get a GT-R version), and it would cover just about every segment with sedan, coupe, station wagon and pickup truck variants. 

News Source: Automotive News - sub. req.

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Mitsubishi Readies i-MiEV Evolution for Pikes Peak 2012

The Mitsubishi i-MiEV is a rather bland-looking electric city runabout, created so that people can bore you with range and economy figures which will never be achieved in the real world. The i-MiEV Evolution takes all that and flushes it down the toilet.

The range is no longer important, nor is the economy or anything that would bother the average motorist. The i-MiEV Evolution will be made purely to go very quickly, and enabling it to do so are three electric motors (one powering the front and two powering the rear), giving the car a total output of 321hp (240 kW). Also, with the substantial body kit and the large wing on the back, we have to say that we think it looks the part!

Mitsubishi have also listed a second car which is to enter the Pikes Peak Hill Climb 2012 event - a standard i-MiEv with some safety modifications - the purpose of its entry into the event still baffles us, though.

[via autoevolution]

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