Introduced in 1992, this high-performance nameplate was Mitsubishi’s factory-built rally-inspired sedan, created to homologate the company’s Group A competition car and to bring its motorsport technology to the street. The first version established the formula that defined the series for decades: a compact four-door body, turbocharged power, and all-wheel drive tuned for traction and response rather than comfort alone. From the start, it was closely linked to Mitsubishi’s World Rally Championship program, and that connection became central to its identity and enthusiast appeal.
Over the next several years, the nameplate evolved through a sequence of generation updates that sharpened handling, aerodynamics, cooling, and drivetrain control while staying true to its original mission. Later iterations broadened the car’s reputation beyond rally fans and turned it into one of Japan’s best-known performance sedans, admired for its direct engineering, everyday usability, and repeated success in motorsport. The line also expanded briefly into a wagon derivative in the mid-2000s, showing how far the performance concept could be stretched while still retaining the same basic family identity.
The final full generation arrived in 2007 and marked a more modern direction, with a new platform and updated technology that carried the concept into the 2010s. Mitsubishi ultimately closed the run with the limited Final Edition announced in 2015, ending a production story that had made the nameplate a cornerstone of the brand’s performance image. Today it remains one of Mitsubishi’s most celebrated enthusiast models, remembered for bringing rally-bred engineering into a practical road car.