Mitsubishi’s Lancer Set to Retire

This year will be a sad year for Mitsubishi enthusiasts the world over. One of Japan’s most iconic car names, the Mitsubishi Lancer will officially be discontinued in 2017.

Launched originally in 1973 to fill the gap between the Minica Kei car and the larger Galant sedan, the Lancer was always marketed as a sporty compact sedan, NDTV reports.

Arian Motor is the representative of the Japanese company in Iran and currently stocks the 2016 version of the sporty sedan. However, the car has faced an uphill battle in the local market due to the rise of the crossover and smaller SUVs.

The Lancer has gone through several generations depending on which part of the world it was sold in some markets like India got two generations of the Lancer, namely the 1995-2000 generation original, which was widely popular in the UK.

The Lancer became popular due to the fact that it came with a phenomenal 4-cylinder turbo engine (in the Evo) and all-wheel-drive at an affordable price point in some markets.

It also became popular with its use in Hollywood movies. The Lancer was the star of movies like Thunderbolt that featured Jackie Chan as a race car driver and the Fast and Furious series where it was showcased in its Evo avatar in multiple movies.

But the Mitsubishi Lancer and Evolution really became the toast of the automotive world with its sheer domination of the world rally scene in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In fact, Lancer Evos have dominated the world of rallying in the past and continue to do so even today in the hands of some skilled drivers.

Sadly, Mitsubishi’s focus shifts from being one of the coolest performance brands in the world to one that only makes pickup trucks and crossover/SUVs have killed the likes of the Galant in the past and now the Lancer.

The very last set of Evos was made sometime last year and now the global headquarters have announced that Mitsubishi will soon discontinue the Lancer all together.

The announcement to discontinue the sedan comes quick on the heels of a new crossover unveil announcement at the 2017 Geneva Auto Show. It is not known whether its likely crossover replacement will get the attention as much as the Lancer did over the past 20 years.