General Introduction:
Mitsubishi Lancer was built by Mitsubishi Motors as a compact model car way back in 1973. Since then, in many variants, over six million Lancers have been sold. Mitsubishi Lancer also formed the basic platform of numerous Proton models in Malaysia.
Some Important Variants:
Mitsubishi Lancer has been sold in various countries as the Soueast Lioncel, Hindustan Lancer, Mitsubishi Carisma, Colt Lancer, Dodge Colt, Chrysler Valiant Lancer, Chrysler Lancer, Plymouth Colt, Lancer GSR, Lancer Evolution, Lancer Ralliart, Eagle Summit, and Mitsubishi Mirage.
Out of these models; Lancer GSR, Lancer Evolution, and Lancer Ralliart are the best performance models and forms great part of the success story of Mitsubishi Lancer.
Some other models that form major competition to this compact model of Mitsubishi motors are Ford Focus, Honda Civic, Mazda Mazda3 and others.
First Generation Mitsubishi Lancers:
Mitsubishi Lancer was first launched in 1973 in the class of sub compact cars. At that time Mitsubishi had the Minica kei car and the compact Galant. Mitsubishi Lancer has helped Mitsubishi Motors filling in the gap between those two segments in a perfect way and at the perfect time. This has helped Mitsubishi Lancer gain popularity among the target customers right from the first day.
This model initially called Chrysler Valiant Lancer and Dodge Colt. It has got 2-door coupe, 4-door sedan and a 5-door station wagon. This generation of models extended up to 1979.
Second Generation Mitsubishi Lancers:
First generation Mitsubishi Lancers were followed by stylish Lancer EX models in 1979. The EX series included, from 1980, a turbocharged 1.8 L model. Stylistically, the boxy, angular look replaced the "coke bottle" look of the previous LAs and LBs. They came with a body style of 4-door sedan. These models look similar to Mitsubishi Mirage.
Lancer Fiore was an extension of both Lancer EX model and Mitsubishi Mirage. The Fiore was often sold as a Lancer in international markets, but also the Mirage Sedan and, with the five-door hatchback model, remained in production for a good part of the 1980s. It was also sold in Australia under the name of Mitsubishi Colt Sedan. Hence Mitsubishi has got two different names in two different parts of the world at the same time for the same model. This was termed as big strategic success for the management at that time.
Third Generation Mitsubishi Lancers:
In 1983, both Mirage and Lancer lines were renewed in a newer way. The Mitsubishi Mirage four-door and Mitsubishi Lancer sedan model became the same concept car. Turbocharged and Fuel injected models were an implicit part of this particular range. To those models in 1985, a station wagon was also added. This model spawned a raised, four wheel drive version. This helped Mitsubishi in a very big way. Often, the Mitsubishi Mirage or Mitsubishi Colt would be the name used on the three-door hatchback, and the Mitsubishi Lancer name used on the remainder. This same model also formed the basis of the original Proton sedan, the Saga, Malaysia's first car.
Some of the variants of body styles in these models are 3-door hatchback, 4-door sedan,
5-door hatchback, and 5-door station wagon. This model has got changed after 1987 in the market.
Fourth Generation Mitsubishi Lancers:
In these fourth generation models, more emphasis was put on aero dynamics and other related technological issues. Mitsubishi has invested quite a lot in R & D while designing these fourth generation models.
Inspired by the shape of Gallant, a new model was launched in 1987. This was a more aerodynamic looking Mitsubishi Lancer. Another addition to this fourth generation model was a five-door hatchback. In Australia, all models were sold as the Mitsubishi Lancer. By that time, the Lancer name was shared with the Dodge Lancer sold in North America. The sedan was sold as the Mirage Aspire in Japan.
Performance Models:
Finally Mitsubishi Lancer has also got in to the race for performance. It has got it's 3 performance variants as Lancer GSR, Lancer Evolution and Lancer Ralliart. Lancer GSR was the model of 1999's. It has got 1800cc turbocharged engine to differentiate itself from the Evolution.
Lancer Ralliart is the current stop gap between the standard Lancer range and the Evolution. However, Lancer Evolution is still the high performance version of Mitsubishi Lancer.
Srinivas is a prolific author with more than 5 years of expereince in writing on various subjects. He did MBA from SYMBIOSIS, INDIA. He can be reached at srinivas@techzing.com Apply for IT Jobs here
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