1992 Mitsubishi 3000gt Vr-4 Twin Turbo Pearl White 98k on 2040-cars

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Waymo partners with Nissan, Renault on robotaxis outside U.S.

SAN FRANCISCO — Self-driving car pioneer Waymo is teaming up with automakers Renault and Nissan to make its first journey outside the U.S. with a ride-hailing service that will dispatch a fleet of robotaxis in France and Japan. The partnership announced late Wednesday underscores Waymo's ambition to deploy its driverless technology throughout the world in an attempt to revolutionize the way people get around. The Mountain View, California, company can afford to try because it's backed by one of the world's richest companies, Google, which secretly began working on driverless technology a decade ago before spinning off that project into what is now known as Waymo. After launching its ride-hailing service in France and Japan, Waymo intends to explore other European and Asian markets with Renault and Nissan. "This is an ideal opportunity for Waymo to bring our autonomous technology to a global stage," Waymo CEO John Krafcik said. Waymo, Renault and Nissan didn't set a timetable for when their ride-hailing service will launch. They left most other details vague. It seems likely it will still be several years before Waymo will be in a position to pose a serious challenge to Uber, the world's largest ride-hailing service. Although Waymo's self-driving technology is widely considered to be the world's most advanced, it still isn't adept enough to be trusted without a human poised to take control in case something goes awry with the robot. Waymo had hoped to launch a fully autonomous ride-hailing service last year in the Phoenix area, but instead is still keeping human safety drivers in those vehicles more than six months after it rolled out. That service, known as Waymo One, is still only offering rides to a few hundred passengers that previously participated in a test program. Krafcik told the German newspaper Handelsblatt last year that Waymo will likely use a different brand for its ride-hailing services outside the U.S. That could be one reason Waymo is working with France-based Renault and Japan-based Nissan, household names in their home countries. Waymo has previously struck deals with two automakers, Fiat Chrysler and Jaguar, but those involved ordering tens of thousands of vehicles to be equipped with self-driving technology for services in the U.S. So far, Waymo is only using Fiat Chrysler minivans for its Phoenix service. The partnership with Renault and Nissan also involves a long-time alliance they formed with Mitsubishi.

Toyota recalls another 2.9 million vehicles over Takata airbags

Subaru, Mitsubishi and Hino doing recalls, too.

New, never-sold 2006 Mitsubishi Evo draws $100K bid on eBay

Today, in the "OK, guess it must be worth that to somebody" department, we note that a California car dealer has an eBay listing for a 2006 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, still brand new and never titled, with nine miles on the odometer. Just another day on eBay, right, and just another car that didn't sell, was hoarded, or somehow forgotten in a barn? Not exactly. The top bid as of Wednesday morning was $100,100. The Evo was a popular car (for a Mitsubishi) in its day, in a cult-of-personality way. And though its run ended with the 2015 model year, a quick inventory search shows there are still around 30 of them sitting brand-new on dealer lots, including the #0001-of-1,600 Lancer Evolution Final Edition, a $70,000 MSRP limited-edition car in Rally Red that a Brooklyn dealer is trying to move for $87,888. Most of the remainders are listed in the $30,000s, however. The 2006 eBay car is listed by South Coast Mitsubishi in Orange County, a dealer who by one Redditer's account laid up a bunch of Evos like bottles of fine wine and sold them off at higher prices. If so, is this the last one in the cellar? And why did the dealership set a car aside in 2006, when they were plentiful and long before the model's demise? For whatever reason, this 2006 car has time-traveled to 2017, with seats still wrapped in plastic and an engine bay you could perform surgery in. It's an Evo IX MR in Graphite Gray with black trim. Base MSRP was a bit more than $35K. It's optioned with the MR package that includes some aluminum and carbon-fiber bits and boost-gauge kit, the Zero Lift aero kit, and it has a six-speed manual. Bottom line on the sticker was $37,094. Specs for that year: The Evo had a 2.0-liter, 16-value inline four making 286 horsepower with 289 pound-feet of torque. The car's curb weight was 3,300 pounds, and its 0-to-60 time was a highly impressive 4.4 seconds. Yet, for $100K or a little more or a lot less, think of all the amazing 2017 new cars, equipped with the latest technology, that would dominate it - Tesla Model S, Lexus LC 500, BMW M2, Mercedes C63 AMG, Alfa Giulia Quadrifoglio, Camaro ZL1, Porsche 911 Carrera S, Dodge Demon, Dodge Hellcat, Corvette ZL1. Even a Mustang GT350 could edge it out, and if you drove a hard bargain you might be able to afford two. So, can a Mitsubishi triple its value by sitting around for a decade undriven? Is this in any way a collectible, to keep undriven as an investment?