I presume that any left-hand-drive (LHD) Evo VIII that Mitsubishi UK (actually, the Colt Car Company — which isn't owned by Mitsubishi) can supply will come from continental Europe. Let's abbreviate the LHD Evo VIII from continental Europe as the "Euro-spec Evo" for this discussion. Are you aware of it's specs? If not, then you should read this press release that Mitsubishi Europe (which IS owned by Mitsubishi) issued last August at the Frankfurt Motor Show — http://www.mitsubishi-motors-europe....3274216143.doc. Here are some important details about the Euro-spec Evo from that document:
Max power is 175 kW — that's only 261 US horsepower.
Max torque is 355 N•m — that's 262 lb-ft.
Transmission — 5-speed manual.
Active Yaw Control — present (unlike the US-spec) but might be a mixed blessing (particularly if it breaks).

You do receive some perks as a serviceman returning to the US. You can ship one POV back free and you won't have to pay the normal US Customs tariff of 2.5% on a car's value like everyone else would. But that's the end of the special benefits story for a non-US-spec car. US Customs will still require that an EPA bond equal to 150% of the car's value be posted as well as a DOT bond equal, again, to 150% of the car's value. These bonds will be released when the car has been made compliant with EPA emissions regs and NHTSA safety regs. The compliance conversions must be performed by an EPA-certified Independent Commercial Importer and an NHTSA-certified Registerd Importer. Let's ignore the EPA certificate of conformance process (see http://www.epa.gov/otaq/imports/imptop.htm) and focus on the NHTSA Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) process.

First, I recommend you read the info linked from this page: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/import/. As you can see from that press release I mentioned earlier, Euro-spec Evos didn't arrive in Europe until 2004. That means the NHTSA will consider them 2004 model year vehicles. And you can also see that there is no mention of the 2004 Evo VIII on page http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/...LIG102803.html. That means you (well actually, the NHTSA-certified Registered Importer you've hired) will have to petition NHTSA for a determination that a 2004 Euro-spec Evo can be made to comply with FMVSS. That's not a pretty (or cheap) process. As an example, here's the docket for a still-pending petition for the 2003 Evo VIII — http://dms.dot.gov/search/searchResu...berValue=15470. Sean Morris (user name tyndago on these forums) reported that he started work on this petition in January, 2003. Mitsubishi has hired the same lawyer that Ferrari uses to fight such petitions and you can bet that any petition for a 2004 Evo VIII will draw negative comments from Mitsubishi's lawyer.

BTW, notice the recent activity in that 2003 Evo VIII petition? Does anyone believe it has a snowball's chance in .... of receiving a favorable NHTSA decision? Ha, if Sean Morris had a brain or cojones, he'd have used the generous opportunity afforded by NHTSA to amend his petition (in response to Mitsubishi's negative comment) to also include the 2004 model year. So what if there isn't yet a US-spec 2004 Evo — there wasn't a 2003 US-spec Evo available when he fired off his initial petition, either.

 

Hah...I knew it...wait long enough and someone will divulge some good info. Sorry I couldn't remember most of that...but that is pretty much what I got from co-workers when I asked why they weren't shipping back their M5's, M3's...etc.