Take it with a grain of salt as it's coming from a dealer who has a vested intrest in making you want to buy an Evo NOW as opposed to waiting to see what comes with the next model year... FWIW, Honda dealers have been telling people that "This is definitely the last year for the 'limited' S2000" since 2001.

It's not hard to believe that Evo production would halt in late summer 2006 for retooling for the new, upcoming 2008 model, which you would expect in mid-late 2007. But it is hard to imagine that there would be no "2007" model year cars in the US. You figure if a car is produced in August, it will be October by the time it reaches a US dealer lot. And good luck to US dealers trying to sell a 2006 model car in Oct, Nov, Dec 2006. Dealers would throw a fit at corporate if they tried to stick them with "old" 2006 models in the fall. I think it's more likely that Mitsu Japan will build up an inventory of Evos to be sold in the production gap as 2007 models. What automakers often do for the last model year is ramp up a big production inventory near the end of the product run, and then sell those off for the next 6-12 mo as the last model year. An example would be when Honda killed the Honda Prelude (which sold in numbers similar to the Evo - maybe 20,000 globally, annually). All "2001" Preludes sold in the US had been built in the summer of 2000.

 

I have the same thoguht as you do.

 

This would suck.. i hope this does not happen.. i really want to buy a new IX in mid or late 2007... i can afford one right now.. but it doesnt make sense for me to buy one.. i am bout to deploy to iraq for a year.. so storing this car some where safe wuld be a problem for me!! i really hope new IXs are sold when i get back in mid to late 07...

 

I hope this is not true either. I was planning on getting a 9 late this year.

 

Keep in mind that the Evo is a low production model anyway, 5k or so for the US per year. A loss of 5k units for one year isn't going to do much more harm to Mitsu. Also gives them plenty of time to work out the bugs and retool for the X Which I sure as hell hope they make more than 5k available in the US. They are going to sell many of those if they don't over price it.

 

+1

And the IX looks like a corrola, civic, sentra, etc.

From the side it looks a little like an Acura, not a bad thing to me. There are very few complete stand out car designs. Most are based on something or look similar to something unless you are looking at the over 100k market then you can be original.

 

I drove an SMG M3 for 3 years and I loved it. The auto mode feature is great in traffic and cruising, but you guys are missing one of the best aspects of it:

It makes shifting idiot proof and shifts all resonsibility for driveline damage to Mitsu. You can't do a miss-shift over-rev, and if you drive it really hard and it breaks then the Mfr has to pay for the damage under warranty. BMW paid for a cracked driveshaft that resulted from all my no-lift S6 (SMG max setting), sport-mode, DSC off, 8000 rpm shifts.

 

I don't know if this is relevant but Mitsubishi did wait over a year to release a New Mitsubishi Spyder after it released the new Eclipse. Basically 2006 had no Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder, they were selling 2005 models, so I guess Mitsubishi is prone to hold off releases.

 

keep in mind that in 1999, Acura didnt have an integra type R. they basically skipped one year, so i suppose mitsu is doing the same thing.

 

Exactly. It is pretty obvious someone is trying to sell more cars at a higher premium.

 

Sounds likely to me. 2006's will be on the lots until late fall. Dodge did the same thing with the srt4 last year. Produced 2005 cars until mid summer. They were on the lot dwindling in numbers until late last fall. Probably just depends on location and how many a dealer is alloted. Locally, my dealer had it's last srt4 on the lot in June of 05, which I bought. It never received another one. Dealer down the road had about 4 after I got mine, last one sold in October/November. The evo, like the srt 4 was more of a niche vehicle, not bread and butter for the auto maker. They can afford to go a year without it, it may even increase sales of some cars (Eclipse Spyder). Just think about it... Person walks into Mitsu dealer looking to buy an evo. Dealer tells them they are no longer availible, person disappointed, dealer introduces the Eclipse Spyder as Mitsu's sportscar, person buys. Yeah, me and you know the differences, but to some people they don't and will walk out a 4th gen Eclipse owner.

Girlie

 

Great information to know.

 

If this was only official it would make my decision whether or not to buy a IX...

 

Wel,

2008 release, 2009 till prices come down from retarded markups...

lOoks like its the new srt4 300hp for me, that is "beating evo's on the street" = Team SRT Engineer durring vehicle testing

 

i highly highly doubt it, even if production stopped in aug. you would still be able to get a new one sitting at the factory