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Mitsubishi could add 'Evo' crossover

You should have done this years ago, but in case you haven't, open your dictionaries to the word "Sacred" and tear the entire page out. Done? Good. Now, to continue... With the traditional sedan-based, gas-powered Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution using its four driven wheels to enter the grave at the end of this year, Auto Express reports that it's possible that Mitsubishi could use the "Evo" appellation on a high-performance, all-wheel-drive version of the Outlander Sport (called the "ASX" in Europe). This has been more than a year in the making, in truth. Last year Mitsubishi said that another "high-performance four-wheel-drive gasoline-powered sedan" wasn't going to happen, and that what did come would be a result of exploring "the possibilities of high-performance models that incorporate electric vehicle technology." As Auto Express sees it, the next-generation Outlander Sport will launch initially with four-wheel drive, followed by a two-wheel-drive, plug-in hybrid model. The company's UK chief said that an Evo-worthy model "isn't a huge jump" from there, once the bread-and-butter segments are satisfied. Mitsubishi is doing much better financially, and this would be one of the experiments it could now afford to try out. An Outlander Sport Evo isn't done and dusted - there's no business case for it yet, and who knows, a potential Evo version could be a UK- or Europe-only trim - but "a lot of senior management" is discussing it.

Mitsubishi pondering $2B share sale?

Mitsubishi makes the brilliantly fast, wonderfully fun Lancer Evolution. Outside of that road-going rally car, the rest of the range is pretty poor - the new Outlander isn't bad, but the subcompact Mirage looks like might've been competitive five years ago, while the Galant and Lancer have suffered from serial neglect.
This hasn't just lead to rumors of Mitsu's death in America; the subsidiary of the massive Mitsubishi Group has been in trouble at home, too. It was bailed out by three other Mitsubishi Group companies - Mitsubishi UFJ Financial, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Mitsubishi Corporation - between 2004 and 2005, according to Bloomberg. Now, it's attempting to extricate itself from "emergency mode," as analyst Koichi Sugimoto told the financial site, adding that "they're still in the very early stages of recovery."
As part of the bailout, Mitsubishi issued its three saviors billions of dollars of preferred shares, which don't have voting rights. The problem is, Mitsubishi hasn't issued dividend payments since 1998, and these stocks aren't exactly competing with Apple or Google, in terms of value. In other words, they're mostly worthless. With a public offering, Mitsubishi is expecting to raise 200 billion yen, or about $2 billion, in order to reduce the number of preferred shares. If all goes according to plan, it will wipe out preferred shares by March of 2014, or the end of fiscal year 2013.

2016 Mitsubishi Outlander shows its new nose

Mitsubishi is already using its 2015 New York Auto Show invitation to tease the new nose on the refreshed 2016 Outlander, but the changes aren't too easy to spot in that stylized shot. Now, thanks to a photographer in Japan, we have a better chance to see what the redesign really looks like. Based on this image and the invitation, we can clearly see that the refresh is liberally borrowing from the styling of the Outlander PHEV Concept-S from the 2014 Paris Motor Show. They share a chrome-outlined, X-shaped grille with two bars on top to connect the headlights, and a gloss black panel in the center provides some visual contrast. The only major change seems to be the foglight design that loses its LED embellishments on the production version compared to the show car. According to Indian Autos Blog, this Outlander was snapped while waiting at port in Japan, and the photo was posted by a user on the blogging site Livedoor. We will get a full look at the refreshed crossover at its debut in New York on April 2.