"LongbowMkII" (longbowmkii)
05/13/2016 at 10:20 • Filed to: Mitsubishi, Eclipse, 4g, concept, hybrid
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"LongbowMkII" (longbowmkii)
05/13/2016 at 10:20 • Filed to: Mitsubishi, Eclipse, 4g, concept, hybrid | 3
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The news of Nissan’s buyout, got me thinking about Mitsubishi as an innovative car company. Yes, kids, that was a thing. Mitsubishi was... in a funk in the early 2000's. Sure, there was the rambunctious Evo, but it was an relic of a rapidly passing age. Not that there is anything wrong with squeezing even more boost into the venerable 4G63, but the writing was on the wall. The 3rd generation Eclipse was... disappointing. The highlight of the FWD-only sports coupe was when it’s ad was spoofed by Dave Chapelle, and they replaced it with a 350z to boot. Harsh. The rest of the lineup were modified platforms of modified platforms based from the 90's as well.
But there was hope. With the famous DSM twins and 3000GTs still fresh in mind here was a NEW Eclipse. A new Eclipse that promised the future. It could be the Answer.
Powered by a 3.8l, 270hp version of the old V6 (that should’ve been a red flag) and a parallel hybrid sysytem that sent an extra “200" hp to the rear wheels. Oh yeah, a 470hp AWD hybrid monster. Before you whippersnappers start claiming that only 470hp doesn’t constitute a monster, in 2004 a 911 Turbo made a ‘mere’ 415hp. So what? You may say, It’s just a concept, they can claim it made 2000hp and ran on unicorn farts. I’ll concede that (although unicorn farts are nearly impossible to acquire, making it a horrible fuel source) but the important part is the AWD. After the lackluster 3rd gen, Mitsubishi was showing that they were pushing the envelope and making the Eclipse the 3000gt spiritual successor. What else would you call a 2+2 with a heavy V6 up front and enough technology to still make it blisteringly fast? Anyways, it proved that Mitsubishi had heard the lamentations of the fanbois and were going to return to being faster than they ought to be.
Unfortunately, in this universe at least, that electric motor never fond it’s way into the back of the 4th generation Eclipse and it was quickly relegated to the bottom of the sports coupe pile and withered away. Maybe the hybrid sports coupe was ahead of it’s time, maybe it would have been a risk that blew up worse than the CR-Z. But JUST maybe thanks to the spiking gas prices in 2008 and 2009 a more realistic Eclipse GT-Hybrid would have been a big seller. A 70hp electric boost on top of that 3.8l still would have made it a fast car, especially for the time and it would have returned improved fuel economy to boot. Not to mention that Mitsubishi would have a green feather in it’s cap, and all the R+D, even if it did fail. At least a better one that the woeful i-Miev gave it.
As hybrid sports cars filter down from McLaren, Porsche and Ferrari to more realistic brands I can’t help but think that Mitsubishi missed a chance here. I guess it’s easy in hindsight now that technology has progressed to say, “Just slap a 70hp electric motor and regenerative braking and have it seemlessly integrate with the rest of the car for $15,000 and hope it sells” But in 2004 Mitsubishi still seemed capable of a technological marvel or two. The Concept-e fueled that dream. That hope was left unfulfilled and now we’re left with the Mitsubishi Outlander which is a modified platform of a modified platform of a 2005 platform. I guess that’s an improvement.
Never change Mitsubishi.
Azrek
> LongbowMkII
05/13/2016 at 10:29 |
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Wow...that is like one of those fuzzy dogs where you can’t tell where the front and the back are. Do not like...
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LongbowMkII
> Azrek
05/13/2016 at 10:34 |
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Not a fan of it either, but since the design has essentially been on the roads for 10 years, I wouldn’t be bringing any new thoughts to that. the final 4th gen design has aged surprisingly well though, it’s just too bad that the rest of the car is so “meh”
Nauraushaun
> LongbowMkII
05/14/2016 at 19:32 |
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Two thoughts:
1. As you touched on, if we put stock in every wild semi-hybrid class-leading concept a manufacturer announced, we’d all be in love with Peugeot. So many of these cars come and go without ever getting a whisper of production, you can’t dwell on them too much. Pipe dreams.
2. Doubtful it would have saved them in any way. This was a time when sports cars were in steady decline. Cars like the 3000GT were great in the 90s, but by the 00s they all disappeared because they weren’t selling. If Mitsubishi had built an awesome Eclipse, it would’ve been a niche product that nobody bought that they made a loss on.
I think they were right to put their resources in the SUV market as that’s where the money is these days. I’m not sure how they messed it up so badly. But if it had worked, I’d have loved to see something like this. Similar to how Porsche built one SUV and suddenly had the means to fund a million new 911 variants as if that’s what the world needed.