Confirmed by President Osamu Masuko:

The next-generation Lancer Evolution "XI" will be a diesel-hybrid vehicle.

“We will start work on the project next year, and it will be ready within three,” said Masuko. “I have set the goal of developing a sporting car featuring electric power.”



Sources:

http://green.autoblog.com/2011/10/21...train-in-2014/

http://www.greencarreports.com/news/...or-2014-evo-xi

http://www.autocar.co.uk/News/NewsAr...llCars/259686/

 

yuck ! if the 10's were less popular than the 8 and 9's imagine this new hybrid

Mitsu dont seem to listen to their markets screaming for the good ole 4G63T on similar platform than the 9 usto be,, they could make a raw AWD with a 4G63T engine that could serve itself much like the RS models did for a good price i predict they would sell mases since people now know what to do with an evo.
The seem to be listening more to the government on green regulations,, which in my opinion is the biggest mistake a corp can do,, but not suprising on what going on whith the push for greener car from this government

 

Maybe this won't be so bad as everyone thinks. Looking forward to seeing what they have up their sleeves.

 

While newer diesels are awesome, I don't think this will turn out well.

I wonder what they are going to do for top end power though. Diesels are good down low, electric is good down low, where is the top end power going to be?

 

All I can say is... next 3 years are going to go by slooooooooooow as heck... as we wait for this to fully develop

 

i think its great, diesel is great to make power on and electric motors produce 100% torque on any powerband so this could be good.

 

Not gonna pass judgement till I see what it's gonna look like.

 

I think it sounds great. Time to start saving.

 

I'll stick with my IX, thanks.

No evolving going on for me.

 

Yea no thanks

 

Couldnt agree more.

 

You bring up some good points. The XIII/IX with the 4G63 were great cars. However, Mitusbishi, like other companies, had to address added pressure from the government for increased occupant safety, hence the larger and heavier X platform. And, the 4B11T was to be a "greener" engine with technology shared between Chrysler and Hyundai. What I don't get is that the 4B11T is still in its first generation and is still a relatively new engine. Why not couple this engine with hybrid technology?

As much as most enthusiasts hate the "green" technology, it is here to stay. Obama got his high CAFE ratings for 2016. The auto makers were just glad to have one corporate average fuel economy standard for the entire US. If you have read anything about this, it is a joke. Companies will be required to build in fuel efficiency based upon what they sell. So Ford for example, will not have to have the same standard as say Suzuki, which primarly builds small fuel efficient vehicles.

If you look at higher technical racing such as Formula 1 and LeMans, then hybrids are here to stay. F1 is going with a 1.6 liter V6 with advanced KERS. Audi and Peugeot are using smallish V6's with electric hybrid propulsion. Porsche has already had a GT3 Hybrid that has been racing for 2 years. About the only racing that will not employ this kind of technology is NASCAR. They are so behind the times, they are still testing out fuel injection that is supposed to be introduced next year.

From what I have read by both Subaru and Mitsubishi, their performance platforms will be much smaller and lighter [not a bad thing]. A diesel has immense torque. They don't however, rev very high. An electric motor has immense torque, so again the emphasis is not on top end power. However, if you look at both F1 and LeMans cars utilizing hybrids, you will see that they can make power on the big end.

I say all this that while I am concerned about future performance cars like the Evo, technology has a way of solving a lot of problems. I grew up with the Muscle Cars and never thought I would see cars again like those from the 60's, but here we are with average cars like a Hyundai Sonata turbo, GTi and Honda Civic Si being able to beat many of the times that the Muscle Cars could do.

 

Someone nailed it on the head, Mitsubishi doesn't listen to their buyers. I don't know who is making the decisions there for the USA market but they need fired.......such a shame.

I'm sure glad I kept me '04 RS nice.

 

I'll keep watching the value of my IX go up.

 

David, we have to be honest. Those of us who love Evos are a niche within a relatively small company [at least in comparison to Toyota, Honda, GM, Ford and Volkswagen]. Mitsubishi seems to be following the lead at Honda, which has pretty much eliminated the higher performing cars. The S2000 is gone and the new Civic Si is not an improvment over the previous one. [I know, I had one].

Mitsubishi has caught the "green" virus, one of blue skies, bluebirds singing, daisys in the field, perfumed flowers, little girls in sun dresses and rainbows everywhere. They are going to protect us from ourselves. Theirs is a world built on utopian promises. People who love performance are like the dinosaurs to them. We are an endangered species it would seem.

So all of us with current Evos need to keep them running as long as we can. You hear people say, "smoke them while you can". Well, we need to "drive them while we can".