| Concept Car Preview | Detroit Auto Show 2008 | Mitsubishi Concept-RA |
Mitsubishi's new Concept-RA coupé will be unveiled to the world at the
Detroit motorshow in January next year and should be a revelation for American show-goers as it's powered by a high-performance turbodiesel engine.
The USA has been slow to cotton on to diesel as a fuel for performance cars, but these first sketches of the RA coupé show that diesel and sleek looks are easily combined. The four-cylinder turbodiesel engine is a 2.2-litre unit producing 202bhp and a healthy 310lb.ft of torque. To harness the power, Mitsubishi has borrowed the four-wheel drive system from its latest Evo X super saloon.
The bodywork is a mix of lightweight plastic and aluminium panels placed over a spaceframe chassis.
Mitsubishi says the RA is purely a concept at the moment, but those close to the project say it gives a nod in the right direction towards a new coupé model from the Japanese firm that could see the light of day in 2010. Here's hoping!
Alisdair Suttie - 28 Nov 2007