We don’t know the identity of the man hiding behind the white racing helmet at the ‘Top Gear Festival 2011’, but The Stig sure knows how to work the steering wheel. Of course, being that the black London Taxi Cab you see in the video after the jump is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, does help a bit. You see, what looks on the outside like a normal black London taxi cab, is in fact a re-skinned Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9 crafted by the folks over at SHP Engineering. The company started with a Lancer EVO 9 with just 1,500 miles on the odo and stripped it down to the bare bones. The body shell of a London Taxi Cab was then dropped on top creating the most innocent EVO we have ever seen to date. Follow the jump to watch it in some awe-inspiring donut action.
After tuning several American and European cars, Vilner has now turned its focus on a Japanese model, the Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X. For this project, the Bulgarian tuning house joined forces with a company called Overdrive, which took over the performance upgrades.
As you can see in the two videos after the jump, (the exterior photo was shot before the light modifications), Vilner replaced the standard Lancer EVO X's headlamps and tail lights with brand new LED units.
Inside, the Bulgarian studio gave the Lancer a black leather upholstery treatment with white colored accents and stitching, along with a black alcantara roof lining and carbon trim on the steering wheel and gear lever. A pair of OMP front bucket seats and the piano black decorative trim round off the interior changes.
On its part, Overdrive fitted the Japanese sports sedan with carbon elements on the outside along with 18-inch Weds Sports alloy wheels, a Greddy exhaust system, an adjustable K-sport suspension and finished up with a power kit that boosts the 2.0-liter turbocharged engine's output to 400-horses.
Mitsubishi President Osamu Masuko today announced that the automaker will kill most of its current lineup of U.S.-made vehicles by 2014, as part of the company's “Jump 2013” mid-term business plan. The decision affects the Eclipse and Eclipse Spyder sports cars, Endeavor crossover and Galant sedan, which are going to be replaced with global vehicles built at the manufacturer’s Illinois plant. The Outlander crossover, Outlander Sport small crossover and Lancer sedan will provide the underpinnings for the new models.
According to Mr. Masuko, these changes won’t affect U.S. sales. In fact, he predicted that sales and production numbers will increase, albeit no target has been specified.
“Our sales in North America will increase”, Masuko said. “We'll still be selling cars brought in from Japan, and we'll be adding the global small car as well”.
When it comes to combined sales, Mitsubishi expects the Japanese, North American and European markets to register a jump of 90,000 units over the next three years.
Furthermore, the company is exploring other possibilities to gain much needed market share as well.
One plan of action will see Mitsubishi rolling out no less than eight electric or plug-in hybrid vehicles by early 2016, including a small commercial truck version of the i-MIEV and plug-in hybrid SUV based on the Px-MiEV concept car shown at the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show.
Mitsubishi also wants to bring its new global small car to the U.S. and target emerging markets with new models, such as a 1-ton pickup truck that could be jointly developed with Nissan.
Dynamometers, or dynos for short, are a useful tool in any racer’s arsenal. By applying some basic physical principles, a dyno can calculate the amount of horsepower and torque being transferred from the wheels to the track, without ever needing to leave the safety of the garage.
So here’s the scoop (according to the posters): some students at Mech-Tech College in Ponce, Puerto Rico were putting a Lancer Evolution VII through its paces on the school’s dyno, when disaster struck. Everything seems normal until 16 seconds in, when the Lancer careens to the left and slides off. Of course, it was all captured on video for our edification.
According to the EvolutionM forum, the vehicle was improperly strapped down. It has something to do with the fitting of a Blow Off Valve (BOV) dump tube which changes the way the vehicle behaves both on the track...and on the dyno. Of course, nobody seems to have taken this into account when tying the Evo down.
Check out the vid and let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Dynamometers, or dynos for short, are a useful tool in any racer’s arsenal. By applying some basic physical principles, a dyno can calculate the amount of horsepower and torque being transferred from the wheels to the track, without ever needing to leave the safety of the garage.
So here’s the scoop (according to the posters): some students at Mech-Tech College in Ponce, Puerto Rico were putting a Lancer Evolution VII through its paces on the school’s dyno, when disaster struck. Everything seems normal until 16 seconds in, when the Lancer careens to the left and slides off. Of course, it was all captured on video for our edification.
According to the EvolutionM forum, the vehicle was improperly strapped down. It has something to do with the fitting of a Blow Off Valve (BOV) dump tube which changes the way the vehicle behaves both on the track...and on the dyno. Of course, nobody seems to have taken this into account when tying the Evo down.
Check out the vid and let us know what you think in the comments section below.
Proton has officially unveiled its Mitsubishi Lancer-derived Inspira mid-sizer, after its soft launch to the public and media in late October. Since then Proton has received over 1,800 bookings from customers around Malaysia in anticipation of its market launch this month.
The new model is the result of an OEM collaboration (the word "rebadge" sounds nastier...) between PROTON and Mitsubishi Japan, the latter providing the mechanical and design basis and the former tweaking the model for the Malaysian market.
Among those changes are the signature Proton grille and -according to the Malaysian company- the incorporation of Lotus DNA in the Inspira's ride and handling.
Dato' Sri Mohd. Nadzmi Mohd, the Chairman of Proton parent corporation Proton Holdings Berhad, explains:
"PROTON is ready to move even further ahead to become a recognised player in the global automotive industry. We have been working and collaborating with Mitsubishi for the last 25 years and its a natural step forward for us to continue to work with them in this project. One of our product strategy is to introduce non-core models through strategic collaborations which provides a more efficient, timely, and cost effective product to the market. The Proton Inspira is an excellent example of this strategic collaboration."
Proton Holdings Berhad's Managing Director Dato' Haji Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir is equally enamoured with the new model:
"The enormous level of interest shown since we first announced the introduction of the new model is certainly a big sign of approval from car buyers. PROTON would like to thank all those who have placed a booking for the Inspira and believe me, they will not be disappointed with the new generation of Proton cars coming their way."
The Inspira uses Mitsubishi's existing 1.8 and 2.0 Liter MIVEC engines, the latter of which is only available with the CVT transmission. Scroll down for the image gallery that includes pictures from the official brochure and a video from the presentation.
Proton, Malaysia's national carmaker and owners of Lotus, has taken the wraps of its latest model. No, you aren't looking at a cheesy Photoshop and this isn't an April Fools joke come six months late: this is the firm's new mid-sized Inspira sedan.
For those of you fooled by the *cough* deceptive *cough* restyling Proton has done, the Inspira (from the Bahasa Malaysia word 'Inspirasi' which means 'Inspiration') is based on the current generation Mitsubishi Lancer.
Priced at a tentative RM79,888 (US$25,654), deliveries of the Inspira will start in November. For some comparison, in Malaysia a base model Mazda3 sells for roughly RM30,000 (US$10,000) more.
Managing Director Dato' Haji Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir is very happy with the new model:
"We maintain our stance in making valuable products more affordable for Malaysians. The car's distinctive sporty personality has been further enhanced by us with the injection of the renowned Lotus DNA of excellent ride & handling, while localisation of parts has enabled us to introduce the Inspira at an affordable price. With these combined, what we have here is what we believe to be another right car, at the right price and at the right time by PROTON."
The Inspira gets all the goodies the Lancer gets including a choice of a 1.8-liter or 2.0-liter four-cylinder gasoline engines, adaptive CVT with paddle shifters, cruise control, dusk-sending headlamps, rain-sensing wipers, climate control air conditioning and (presumably) 5 star ANCAP safety.
The Inspira is the first tangible result of the new strategic alliance between Proton and Mitsubishi, though the two companies have had close ties for years. In the mid to late '90s, Proton brought three cars to Australia that were little more than rebadges of current generation Mitsubishi models. Suffice to say, only the most cash strapped of buyers saw the Wira, Satria and M21 as anything but knockoff Mitsubishis.
CoolPicturegallery will have more details and pictures as they come through.
The company started with a Lancer EVO 9 with just 1,500 miles on the odo and stripped it down to the bare bones. The body shell of a London Taxi Cab was then dropped on top creating the most innocent EVO we have ever seen to date. Follow the jump to watch it in some awe-inspiring donut action. 
