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Mitsubishi bringing Emirai 3 to Tokyo?

Inquiring minds really want to know if the W-shaped steering wheel will return on Mitsubishi's newest iteration of the Emirai electric concept vehicle. The Japanese automaker is slated to show off the third variant of this interesting concept car at the Tokyo Motor Show at the end of the month, according to Technologic Vehicles. Beyond the facts that the car is a two-seater and runs on electric power, we don't have many details to share just yet. One specific item we do know, though, is that concept will once again offer close monitoring of the driver's physical state. In this case, the car is said to use cloud-based data to gauge the driver's physical condition, so the concept goes well beyond the types of sensors we see in other vehicles that offer features like collision avoidance and lane maintenance. The car is also missing doors, which doesn't necessary help the driver's physical state but is still pretty cool-looking. The model could see the light of day – and limited production – by the end of the decade. Two years ago, Mitsubishi brought its Emirai 2 concept car to Tokyo. That super-futuristic vehicle included a biometrics feature that adjusted the driver's seat based on the user's facial temperature and heart rate. It also had a W-shaped steering wheel straight out of a Superfriends cartoon. Mitsubishi was an early entrant in the electric-vehicle sector with its i-MiEV, though that model has been selling in the single-digit figures in recent months. Now that we have a few year's worth of hindsight, the i's jellybean shape looks pretty pedestrian compared to the Emirai. News Source: Technologic Vehicles Green Tokyo Motor Show Mitsubishi Electric

Watch Mitsubishi break the EV record at Pikes Peak

Take a listen folks - you're hearing the eventual future of motorsports. This is Greg Tracy and the Mitsubishi MiEV Evolution III as they assault the treacherous course at Pikes Peak in just 9:08.188.
This run is significant for a number of reasons. As we recapped in our Pikes Peak finale post, Tracy's run was a mere two seconds off the best overall time at this year's event, snagging him and Mitsubishi second place overall, as well as first in the Electric Modified class and the fourth fastest time ever recorded. Perhaps more importantly, though, Tracy thoroughly trounced the previous EV record at Pikes Peak, beating the legendary Nobuhiro "Monster" Tajima's 2013 best of 9:46.530.
It's an impressive feat, and now you can experience the whole run from as near a first-person viewpoint as you're going to get. Scroll down and have a look.

Mitsubishi boss labels French minister a "retard" for "ruining the lives of motorists" [UPDATE]

Arnaud Montebourg (pictured), French Minister of Industrial Recovery, was recently the target of a rather despicable slur at the hands of Mitsubishi France's leader, Jean-Claude Debard.
Frustrated by Montebourg's attempts to encourage the purchase of lower emitting vehicles and discourage use of high-emission vehicles - by way of tax breaks and tax hikes, respectively - Debard reportedly used the occasion of a new product launch to call the minister "stupid," a "mental case" and a "retard" before members of the media. Here's the full quote, as reported by the French newspaper La Provence by way of The Telegraph:
"This mental case, this retard, increases ecological taxes, reduces the speed motorists can go on Paris' ring road and ruins the life of motorists from all social origins all suffer as a result of him. He is stupid and understands nothing, you can quote me on that."