MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION X PICTURES AND FEATURES

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X for India

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X, or Evo 10, that may be priced between Rs 21.70 - Rs 23.5 lakh, will be launched in India in early 2009.

2 April, 2008

Mitsubishi Motors is set to launch its luxury sedan, the Lancer Evolution X in India, in early 2009.

The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X will be completely imported, because as of now Mitsubishi does not want to manufacture the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X locally. This would mean that the price of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X will be very high. Globally the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X is priced close to Rs 13 lakh. However with the imposed duties on import, the cost may soar up to Rs 21.70 - Rs 23.5 lakh, it is expected.

Reports say that based on the sales response, Mitsubishi will decide whether the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X can be manufactured locally or not.

The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X, also known as Evo 10, will take on Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Skoda Superb, Volkswagen Passat, Nissan Teana and Audi A4 in the Indian market. Lancer Evolution X is the Evo 10 edition of Lancer sedan.

The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X, which would be a five-seater, is expected to be built on a completely new platform. Further, the aluminum engine block under the hood would make sure that the car is light weight. To be powered by a 2-litre engine that gives out 295 bhp power, the Evo 10
also would come with a four-wheel drive option.

It is believed that the demand for luxury cars in India has been on the rise mainly due to the surge in the economy. Better pay packets among the country's upper-middle-class has helped a lot and it is felt that the demand would further grow to 15,000 units a year by 2011-12.

Mitsubishi also plans to launch the Outlander sports utility vehicle in the later part of 2008. The Mitsubishi Outlander SUV will be manufactured at the Mitsubishi plant in Chennai.

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When I arrive in Chennai, my taxi driver, Arun, informs me that monsoon season may have arrived a bit early, the sheets of heavy rain blanketing our car providing some compelling evidence. Trying to peer through the windshield, the wipers of the Tata unable to dance to the quick beat of the downpour, it's hard for me to disagree. The locals seem rather unaffected, though -- one motorcyclist wears a plastic bag over his head, another's passenger holds an umbrella, shielding both riders from the wet. Indians, obviously, don't suffer from a lack of improvisation. • Get a Free Quote • Find a Local Dealer After only a mile on the road, I realize I'm in for a week of utter mayhem. The traffic is heavy, seemingly without rule, and of, well, a diverse variety. Naturally, there are the usual suspects, i.e. cars, trucks, vans, SUVs, and buses. But in India an array of other vehicles, including tuk-tuks (three-wheeled, motorized rickshaws), motorcycles, scooters, and bicycles -- all of which toot their horns and ringers as if performing Beethoven's Fifth -- transform the streets into a mosh pit of wheels. Add in throngs of pedestrians and a potpourri of on-the-loose animals -- dogs, cows, goats, and pigs, to name a few -- and what you get is a blend of traffic jam, walk-a-thon, and zoo. Making things worse, there appears to be no right of way on the road; rather, it's first come, first go, be it on two, three, or four wheels, or two or four legs. As we near the hotel in Fisherman's Cove, a lovely stretch of beach along the Bay of Bengal, the city landscape proves equally incongruous. Shacks and tents and dilapidated dwellings mix with brand-new factories and car dealerships, well-kept colleges, and pristine pharmaceutical plants. The scene looks like a tornado ripped through, scattering trash and damaging buildings, sacrificing only the ones the wealthy constructed. Arriving at FishCo, as the locals call it, I begin wondering, What will it be like to drive a $300,000 Ferrari through these towns, villages, and cities where conditions are a striking juxtaposition of future and past, first-world and third-world? Only one way to find out.

Click to view more of the Ferrari Magic India Discovery in hi-res

As the pair of specially-prepared Ferrari 612 Scagliettis make their way across the subcontinent in the Magic India Discovery tour, news has emerged that Ferrari plans to enter the growing market there by 2010. The reports emanate from India's Economic Times, which quoted tour coordinator Gabriele Lalli as saying that Maranello was preparing a sales and marketing network in the country with an eye towards opening there in 2010.

Currently there are a few dozen Ferraris in India (aside from the promotional 612s) that were purchased from Ferrari's dealership in Singapore. Sponsoring the Magic India Discovery is Tata, whose close relationship with Ferrari's parent company Fiat may come into play as the Prancing Horse gallops towards India. Until then, we've compiled a big gallery of more than 50 of the latest high-resolution images from the Magic India Discovery tour, which you can view by clicking on the thumbnails below.

My first day of action does not get off to a good start-not for me, personally, but rather for the entire Ferrari crew. The original plan was to depart at 9 a.m., but a revised schedule was dispersed the previous evening, highlighting a notable change at 10 a.m. the following morning-F1 race in Melbourne, Australia. It's all about priorities at Ferrari, and, let's face it, Formula 1 is priority No. 1. Sadly, when the first race of the season saw the checkered flag flutter through the air, Ferrari drivers Felipe Massa had recorded a DNF and Kimi Raikkonen had placed eighth, the latter based on the 90th percentile rule; in other words, he didn't actually finish the race, completing only 53 of 58 laps. To pour salt in the wound, former four-time Champ Car champion Sebastian Bourdais of team STR was on pace to grab fourth place in his F1 debut, only to place seventh after an engine failure-a Ferrari engine failure. Of course, none of these results takes into account the fact that Ferrari's archrival, McLaren, finished first and fifth. But the beauty of racing is that there's always the next race, and lucky for the group that would be the Malaysian Grand Prix only a week away, which meant another troop viewing.

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Out of Chennai, I hopped on a two-lane road positively bustling with action-pedestrians, scooters, bulls, Toyotas, pot holes the size of Guam-you name it, I had to honk at it, avoid it, and shake my head at it. Eventually, though, the action subsided, the cityscape behind me keeping it contained, and I began to relax a bit, noticing that the topography around me had transformed to lush, rocky hills strewn with emerald palm trees and brown boulders the size of Escalades. Some of the rock formations seemed right out of a Star Trek episode-you know, one of those chapters in which the crew lands on a planet in search of something unknown but significant. I could almost hear Shatner over the two-way: "Spock ... this looks ... a lot like ... India."

Star Trek set in the rearview, the next backdrops were small villages comprised of dwellings, schools, factories, missions, hospitals, all of which looked simple, worn, and tired, but perfectly functional and content. Because many of the locals had never seen a Ferrari, they gazed at the 612s, well, as if they'd never seen a Ferrari, staring at the two machines like they were spaceships, their mouths agape and eyes wide open; ultimately, though, they just smiled, knowing they had seen something special. The children, naturally, were a bit more active, running beside the cars, following along, yelling and screaming, tapping the aluminum panels as if to say hi. To return the greeting, I stopped, grabbed the two steering wheel-mounted shift paddles to put the car in neutral, and then tap danced on the throttle, bringing to life the Ferrari's 540 horses, much to the kids' delight. Jumping and yelping ensued.

As the number of lanes increased, from two to six, so did my speed, now registering between 50-80 mph. This was good news, mostly because I'd barely made a dent in the 200-mile stretch to Bangalore. But the bad news was that those road hazards-the canines and bovines and buses and tuk-tuks-now became 50-80 mph moving chicanes, and dodging them was like avoiding curry at a local buffet. I felt like Ricky Hatton trying to elude left jabs and right hooks from Floyd Mayweather Jr. Like in boxing, though, one can only escape the punches for so long. At one point I saw the aftermath of a nasty highway collision in which a Toyota Innova wagon struck a cyclist. With a crowd of travelers all around the injured man, I could only see the bent bike lying off to the side. It looked like a pretzel. If the man weren't dead, he likely wished he were.

Another monsoon let loose as I entered Bangalore, unleashing a wiper-defying downpour whose intensity proves blizzard-like with every flash of sky-illuminating lightning. Confined to the 612's cozy cockpit, with every inch covered in soft hide befitting a Balenciaga handbag, I was thankful to be in such a lovely cruiser. With a suspension that pampers the posterior, a V-12 that seduces the senses, and a leather-wrapped steering wheel that tangos with the fingertips, the 612 delivers good vibrations for both the mind and body.