Mitsubishi Concept-X - A no-holds barred study on the "Evolution" brand's potential, Concept-X is a four-door, four-passenger sports car with a brand new, turbocharged and intercooled 2-liter engine with MIVEC variable valve timing and nitrous injection. We kid you not! The transmission is a 6-speed auto-manual with paddle shifters. A host of active driving aids combine with the all-wheel drive to make it a very bad-*** car for the Fast n' Furious set: Super All Wheel Control, Active Brake Control, Active Steering Control, and Roll Control Suspension technologies make the Concept-X a very able handler on and off the tarmac. The cockpit is race car-Spartan with black plastic and billet aluminum accents, Recaro bucket seats, and a competition-spec steering wheel.

2008 Mitsubishi Lancer: Redesign. Platform will underpin new Chrysler PT Cruiser and Dodge Neon. The more modern sedan, with a sweeping arc roofline, will boast an Evolution X flagship next year.

2009 Mitsubishi Lancer: Evolution X flagship boasts a new MIVEC 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbocharged well past 300 horsepower, continuing the rally battle with the Subaru WRX STi.

With sleek, aggressive styling, the next-generation Lancer promises to be a genuinely attractive saloon. But the four-door will only be sold here in hot Evo X form. Cheaper variants are likely in five-door and estate guises, with all versions going on sale in the UK in mid-2007.

Mitsubishi deliberately dubbed this car Concept-X to clue Evo fans into what we’ll get when the Evolution X arrives in 2006 as a 2007 model.

Forget the concept tag on Mitsubishi’s Concept-X for the Tokyo show. This is how the new Lancer Evolution X (as in 10) will look. The next incarnation of the rally-bred performer will be with us in early 2007 as an ’07 model. (and) A major emphasis for engineers developing the 2007 production car is strategic weight reduction...

Mitsubishi's Concept-X previews the 2007 Lancer Evolution X, to be built on the all-new Lancer/Dodge Caliber platform.

Mitsubishi will do one final minor change on the current Evo IX in 2006 before the all-new, eagerly awaited Evo X hits the blocks in 2007.

The Evo X will go on sale in Japan in the middle of 2007, and will arrive in the UK at roughly the same time...

Look for the Evo X to go on sale sometime in 2007.

The 2007 Mitsubishi Evo X is expected to be a completely revamped version of the Evo we all know and have come to respect.

On the flip side, let us take a look at the only Japanese money-losing carmaker, Mitsubishi Motors. It has been a long, hard month for Mitsubishi. First, it posted a record $1.3 billion net loss for the first two quarters of the year. Then Mitsu slashed its forecast for the full year through March 2006 to a net loss of $2.2 billion on sales of $19.1 billion.

Mitsubishi Motors' stock price may be feeling whipped-lashed after DaimlerChrysler sold it's remaining Mitsubishi shares to American Investment bank Goldman Sachs, which then sold it's newly acquired stock to investors, keeping a tidy portion for itself as part of its commission. All of this trading occurred within hours.

Not to mention, the company was plagued by a series of recall scandals only a year ago.

It may seem like all doom and gloom at Mitsubishi but there may be three sets of headlights at the end of the tunnel. Japan's oldest automaker has three new vehicles that have the industry abuzz. In the midsize pickup market its Raider offers a lot of style and value, while the "evolution" of its compact Lancer has been metaphored into the Concept X and the Sportback Concept models.

... Meanwhile Mitsubishi is poised to take the compact car division by storm with the Concept X and the Sportback. Both are poised to be different models of the next generation Lancer Evolution X and Sportback respectively, and are expected out for 2007.

The Concept X, which debuted earlier this year at the Tokyo Motor Show, is definitely generating some noise. The aggressively styled all-aluminum sedan is a sight to behold. The oversized front grille and angled shape is striking. From behind it possesses a refined eurostyle with narrow curved LED taillights and a slick but tall rounded trunk.

Dave Ramdas, a Mitsubishi enthusiast claims, "It looks like it will eat up the competition like it eats up the road, you won't find a stock Accord that can even compare."

The Concept X is powered by a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder DOHC MIVEC intercooler-turbocharged engine that produces over 300-horsepower. Like or leave it, this isn't your momma's Lancer. Concept X is another product of the DaimlerChrysler union, but this one relies mostly on Mitsubishi's expertise, not DaimlerChrysler's.

...With an impressive new lineup waiting in the wings, which also includes the critically important Eclipse Spyder to be introduced early next year, cash strapped Mitsubishi Motors may just be able to claw back some of its lost market share that is now so desperately needed.