Mitsubishi's planned repositioning as a 'green' car manufactuer won't necessarily mean the end for the Lancer Evolution, says the Japanese car company.
Last week, Mitusbishi's global product director - Gayu Eusegi - told Autocar that the Evolution X would be the last Evo. "There is still a demand, but we must stop," he said.
Meanwhile, US blog site Jalopnik got a comment from a Mitsubishi spokesman, saying that "The current Evo is planned through 2012-2013, but we're not talking about our plans after that."
Such vague comments are worrying, especially coupled with the fact that a new evolution of the Evolution is conspicuously absent from the company's medium-term business plan.
However, reports of the Evo's death may be somewhat exaggerated, as Mitsubishi hurried this statement out via Twitter before the weekend: "Production of the current Lancer Evolution continues as planned. As for its successor, regulations and market feedback will dictate its engineering package & architecture.
"MMC has kept the Lancer Evolution sedan evolving as the brand's highest-performing model in the global market. However, as the market's needs and demands change, MMC is considering not advancing the Lancer Evolution concept in the same way as before, but to find a different direction for the Lancer Evolution model to evolve."