Yahoo Autos Mitsubishi Is Bringing Back Ralliart
If you're a fan of Mitsubishi rally exploits or if you played Gran Turismo 2, you're no doubt familiar with Ralliart. Essentially Mitsubishi's competition and high-performance arm, Ralliart has been mostly dormant for the last decade or so. In that time, Mitsubishi Motors lost what once made made it special, becoming a brand with a lineup of affordable, if fairly anonymous cars. But, Mitsubishi seems to want to reclaim at least some of its lost mojo, and it's bringing Ralliart back.
The company first announced the return of Ralliart in its 2020 financial results presentation earlier this week. Per Autocar Mitsubishi Motors CEO Takao Kato said "[w]e have decided to relaunch the Ralliart brand for customers in Mitsubishi Motors brand who want to add to Mitsubishi Motors-ness even more... For customers who wish to experience our Mitsubishi-ness, we will launch custom-made accessories for our model line-up as well as re-entering motorsport events around the world."
A slide in Mitsubishi's presentation showed an L200 pickup—which we don't get in the U.S.—decked out with Ralliart decals. But Mitsubishi offered no details about what it has planned, though we imagine a return to the World Rally Championship is unlikely as the brand is set to exit many European markets. It's also unclear if anything bearing the Ralliart branding will come to the U.S.
Mitsubishi did sell a Ralliart edition of the Lancer in the U.S., which slotted below the Lancer Evolution X in the lineup. But, it's hard to imagine many in the U.S. knowing the Ralliart name, and currently, Mitsubishi doesn't sell any performance cars here.
In other words, don't expect a return of the Lancer Evo, but we're hopeful this signals good things to come from Mitsubishi. If nothing else, the company is realizing it has a history worth embracing.
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