In a round about way, Mitsubishi admits that in the UK, Lancer is not the first name to spring to mind when someone says Mitsubishi. In fact, even the name Mitsubishi is seldom correctly pronounced. A lot of people seem to think it's Mitsibushi, including the technician who came to check out the test car when I suspected it had developed a fault.
Yet say the word 'Shogun', or the word 'Evo', and there is immediate recognition. These are rightfully strong brands, and the ones most readily associated with Mitsubishi, although mainly in the UK. There is good reason for this: the company admits that in the UK and southern Europe, its name is mainly associated with SUVs and the fire-eating Evo, whereas in central and northern Europe, the brand is most frequently associated with conservative cars appealing to low- and middle-income buyers.
Perhaps this division in brand-awareness is a legacy of Mitsubishi's convoluted affair with DaimlerChrysler, Volvo, smart and Daf, all of whom had a share in the latter's Dutch factory, and where Mitsubishi built Colts, and Volvo, the V40. The factory is now solely occupied by Mitsubishi and is home only to the Colt range and to the Outlander.
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relies heavily on a sporting image |
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Mitsubishi hopes that the new Lancer range will counter this imbalance, and create for the company a foothold in the lucrative C-segment market, where, at present, Mitsubishi's penetration is, and I quote: "...very patchy and sometimes near invisible". And, given the 'near invisible' footprint in certain countries, any success for the new Lancer will take the form of 'conquest sales', which means getting potential buyers to switch from Ford, Opel or Volvo into a car with virtually no track record.
Mitsubishi is hoping that its competition image will once again emerge to replace the rational-purchase ethos that has curtailed brand-development in its core European markets. Thus the new Lancer relies heavily on a sporting image to rekindle buyers' affection; and the styling of the latest car goes a long way towards achieving this objective.
For example, the so-called 'Jet Fighter' grille sets the new Lancer apart from the familiar and anodyne front-end treatment of the Focus, the new Astra and the V40. It implies power and aggression, even if, in the case of the test car, the power plant is a diesel engine. The rear end also gets a muted 'boy racer' treatment, which includes on the GS3, as tested, a high-level wing, which I suspect is largely cosmetic. As a whole, the car looks squat, and slightly menacing, and able to see off Focii at the blip of the throttle.
In fact, the equivalent 2.0-litre TDCI Focus has the edge - quite a large edge, as it happens. The 2.0-litre DI-D Lancer will reach 62 mph from standstill in precisely 10 seconds, whereas the Ford stops the clock in 9.3 seconds. These desk-top figures scarcely means anything: except in test-track conditions, the two cars are sufficiently similar to be considered in the same ball-park. However, when it comes to economy, the Focus is a clear winner, by miles - literally.
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