2005 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 2.3 L Stroker 37r Turbo on 2040-cars

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2014 Mitsubishi Mirage arrives in US this fall

Mitsubishi dealers have been painfully starved of fresh product for ages now, with their most recent new model, the bubble-shaped i electric car, already requiring a serious sales jumpstart. We've known for a while that help is on the way in the form of an all-new Outlander crossover, but we've basically only had loose confirmations to go on that the Japanese automaker would eventually reintroduce its Mirage subcompact to the American market. Today, those rumors have turned to reality, as Mitsubishi has confirmed that the five-door economy car will hit US dealerships this fall.
Every subcompact player needs a trump suit, from Ford's tech-rich Fiesta to Honda's impossibly space-efficient Fit, and the Mirage's calling card figures to be its fuel economy. Mitsubishi says it expects its 2014 Mirage to achieve 37 miles per gallon in the city and 44 on the highway (combined rating of 40 mpg) when equipped with a continuously variable transmission. Those figures are good enough, Mitsu says, to earn it the title of the most fuel-efficient gasoline vehicle sold in America that isn't a hybrid.
Of course, Mitsubishi isn't outlining any additional specs at the moment - not even engine configuration. We're expecting the company's 1.2-liter three-cylinder, which in European spec delivers a modest 79 horsepower and 78 pound-feet of torque. The Continent's Mirage weighs under 1,900 pounds, but the normally aspirated triple still makes for leisurely acceleration of 11.7 seconds to 62 miles per hour. It will be interesting to see if Mitsubishi makes some powertrain alterations to better suit American expectations.

Mitsubishi's first US chairman since 2007 charged with revitalizing brand

Have a look at Mitsubishi North America's vehicle page and you'll find seven cars in four model lines: i-MiEV electric hatch, Lancer sedan, Lancer Evolution and Sportback, Outlander and Outlander Sport, and Galant sedan. The Galant has 3.9 tires in the automotive grave, and the only hope for mainstream excitement, the Eclipse coupe and Spyder, had hemlock poured down their crankcases last year. Increasing the quotient of bleak, the Lancer isn't due for a refresh until 2014, the coming Outlander PHEV will sell in miniscule numbers when it does arrive, a little sports car has been nixed and the only other Mitsu being considered for our landmass is the Colt, which, for its stellar fuel economy numbers, looks like a car designed by Pikachu. There's also that matter of declining NA market share in a rising overall market, Mitsubishi's piece of the total pie currently hovering around the 0.4-percent mark according to Automotive News.
The company has decided to do more about it, reassigning Executive Vice President and Head Officer of the Headquarters Product Projects & Strategy Group Gayu Uesugi to be the new chairman of Mitsubishi Motors North America. It will be the first time in five years that someone has filled the chairman position at MMNA.
The hope is that with Uesugi's 35 years with the company, his experience in the company's global product plan and his success in emerging market strategy, he's the man to "[develop] a product plan and growth strategy for the US market" that will put things right. Or at least better. He will work with Yoichi Yokozawa, who has been CEO of MMNA since last year. There are more details on the move in the press release below.

Junkyard Gem: 1987 Dodge Ram 50 with V8 swap

Chrysler did very well selling Mitsubishi Forte pickups with Plymouth and Dodge badging in the United States, even after Mitsubishi began moving the same trucks out of their own American dealerships in 1982. The 1987 Ram 50 2WD short bed weighed in at just over 2,500 pounds, so it was reasonably perky with its 2.0-liter G63B four-banger making 90 horsepower… but there's no replacement for displacement! At some point along the line, a Chrysler small-block V8 engine found its way into the engine compartment of this truck, now residing in a car graveyard in Sparks, Nevada. This was the cheapest new Dodge-branded pickup Americans could buy as a 1987 model, though it had to compete with its near-identical Mitsubishi Mighty Max twin for sales. The 1980s were great times for little pickups in the United States, but a desire for bigger cabs and more creature comforts doomed them by the dawn of the following decade. The most interesting thing about this engine swap is that it didn't involve a Chevrolet or Ford small-block V8. Both the Chevy small-block and Ford Windsor V8s are a few inches narrower than the Chrysler LA-series V8, which makes them easier to stuff into a small vehicle. It appears that engine length was the critical dimension in this case, since the Mopar seems to have had enough side-to-side clearance to avoid any slicing of Mitsubishi steel to make it fit. My guess is that whoever did the swap happened to have the engine handy and that's why it's here. Keeping it all Dodge might have been a factor in the decision as well, though the truck's Mitsubishi ancestry makes that unlikely. It was over 100°F out when I found this truck, so I wasn't motivated to check block casting numbers to determine exactly which LA engine we're dealing with here. The easiest LAs to get cheap for the last four or so decades have been the 318 (5.1-liter) and the 360 (5.8-liter), so one of those two is the most likely candidate here. Power levels for these engines got pretty dismal during the Malaise Era, but anyone with the wrenching skills to do this swap would have applied some basic power-enhancing wizardry before the engine went in. We can see there's an Edelbrock Performer intake manifold, and you might as well stab in a better camshaft if you're upgrading the intake. How much power? With a four-barrel carburetor on a dual-plane intake plus a meaner cam, 300 to 350 horsepower is easily achieved with one of these engines, even with stock exhaust manifolds.