Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative (http://www.autoblog.com/category/hybrids/), SUVs (http://www.autoblog.com/category/suvs/), Green (http://www.autoblog.com/category/green/), Mitsubishi (http://www.autoblog.com/category/mitsubishi/)
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/01/09imievsportair_hi_01lo.jpg (http://www.autoblog.com/photos/mitsubishi-i-miev-sport-air-1/1317458/)
Click above for a hi-res gallery of i MiEV Sport Air renderings


When the average enthusiast thinks of Mitsubishi, the first thing that jumps to mind is likely the Evolution (http://www.autoblog.com/2008/09/10/in-the-autoblog-garage-2008-mitsubishi-evolution-x-mr/), but the Japanese automaker's bread is buttered by the sales of large SUVs. This means that profits are pretty tough to come by these days as anything that guzzles gas has rapidly seen itself falling out of favor. In light of this fact, Mitsubishi now says that it has halted development of everything that isn't eco-friendly. SUVs and large cars are out; electric cars, plug-in hybrids and small cars are in. What does this mean for future developments for the Evo platform? We don't know, but it doesn't sound promising.

According to CEO Osamu Masuko, the automaker can't abandon its SUV roots entirely, so the future strategy will be two-fold: continue to offer larger cars like the Lancer and Galant and four-wheel drive SUVs in hybrid form, while focusing on fully electric machines on the smaller end. The first fruits of Mitsubishi's new green plans may be production versions of the i MiEV electric car (http://www.autobloggreen.com/tag/imiev), but plug-in hybrid versions of its larger cars and SUVs are likely by 2013.

Gallery: Mitsubishi i MIEV Sport Air (http://www.autoblog.com/photos/mitsubishi-i-miev-sport-air-1/)
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/01/09imievsportair_hi_01_thumbnail.jpg (http://www.autoblog.com/photos/mitsubishi-i-miev-sport-air-1/1317458/)http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/01/09imievsportair_hi_02_thumbnail.jpg (http://www.autoblog.com/photos/mitsubishi-i-miev-sport-air-1/1317459/)http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/01/09imievsportair_hi_03_thumbnail.jpg (http://www.autoblog.com/photos/mitsubishi-i-miev-sport-air-1/1317457/)http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2009/01/09imievsportair_hi_04_thumbnail.jpg (http://www.autoblog.com/photos/mitsubishi-i-miev-sport-air-1/1317456/)

[Source: Automotive News (http://www.autonews.com/article/20090202/ANE03/901309934/1179) - sub. req'd]Mitsubishi focuses development on 'green' cars, plug-in hybrid coming in 2013 (http://www.autoblog.com/2009/02/02/mitsubishi-focuses-development-on-green-cars-plug-in-hybrid-c/) originally appeared on Autoblog (http://www.autoblog.com) on Mon, 02 Feb 2009 18:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds (http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/).


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3phase motors are the future of cars, my opinion, so don't think that it might be bad that XII, or XIII will not have a 4b11t but 4 electric motors one per wheel with 60-80whp tottal of 240-320whp . Bad news for the electric EVO is the batteries, but technology is improving and we might have better batteries or hydrogen fuel cells for fuel; if everything goes well. Good news about electric motors is there is 300-500% of torque @ 0 rpms:omg: and they can wrap around 13k-15k:rock: just look @ Tesla Roadster:googlesign:

P.S. sorry if i have spelling mistakes

I will miss the exhaust note

you'll love the whine though^

you'll love the whine though^

But it will take a WHILE to get use to.

i wouldnt mind

NOT A JOKE but a while back i read somewhere that there is a tecknology that can make hybryd or EV cars sound like they have an exhaust system but Im not sure how it works, I think it is a speaker or somthing.

^ I read that also. It might of been the chevy volt but I could be wrong.
An electric Evo would be funny. You got this bad ass racer that hopefully looks meaner then the X that you plug in to the wall socket.

back in school I built an electric gocart, holy $#!@ that thing flew, but i had a dc series motor but that thing had so much torque men I need to build one more. I'm sure the future cars will have 3 phase motors and they will utilize VFDs that can handle 500Hz and with a 4 pole motor that would be 15000rpm:rock: