Mitsubishi revives the Evolution name… but in an electric SUV!

Words by Ganesh Murthy

The Japanese car maker, famous for its rugged SUVs and sports cars, is all set to take the covers off its new concept car, an all-electric crossover SUV called the Mitsubishi e-Evolution at the upcoming Tokyo Motor Show on October 25, 2017. The highlight of this concept car is the use of an interactive AI personal assistant, which can interact with the occupants and driver to deliver a connected motoring experience on the go. The crossover comes equipped with a triple motor 4WD system which employs a single motor to drive the front wheels and dual motors AYC (Active Yaw Control) through an electronically controlled torque vectoring AYC unit.

The all electric crossover will also have adaptive response characteristics, high torque electric drive and a coaching function. This coaching function allows the AI system to transfer knowledge to the driver unobtrusively to enhance the driving expertise. It builds a picture of the driver’s skill level and constructs a training program that provides advice through voice dialogue and large dashboard display thereby improving the driving habits. It comes loaded with features like voice print technology and person recognition that allow the system to identify individual passengers, voice control functions such as climate control, wipers and speech recognition. Another piece of tech is the smart speaker having the potential to link home to car which the company is developing, with the use of Amazon Echo with Alexa or the Google Assistant to control headlamps, interior temperature, music, access schedules and control smart electric appliances.

At the Tokyo Motor Show, the Mitsubishi e-Evolution concept will be one among the 12 Mitsubishi models on display. It will be joined by the new Eclipse coupe-SUV crossover, the Outlander PHEV and other MMC models sold in Japan. Hardcore enthusiasts have been up in arms about Mitsubishi appropriating the names of their performance cars of the yore on to cars with no connect to performance as all. Earlier this year they used the Eclipse name on to a coupe-SUV crossover and now the hallowed Evolution badge (or Evo, our namesakes, for short) has been slapped on to an electric SUV.