What is the Mitsubishi C-D Segment Car?

Near the end of May 2020, the Renault-Nissan-Alliance held a digital press conference to announce the mid-term plans for the Alliance, given that it’s in the middle of a five-to-six year plan started alongside the Alliance Ventures campaign. It sounded like lots of great news, with each automaker focusing on a region or segment before switching to the next. A sort of trial-by-fire without putting all bets on black, or red. Some worry that this could affect Mitsubishi Motors with the focus being placed on regions that do best, and surprisingly, Mitsubishi Motors doesn’t do as well in its country of origin, Japan, nor the U.S., so what will the C/D vehicle segment from Mitsubishi be and what will we be missing?

All we know for now is that Mitsubishi Motors is the automaker set to lead the pack and release the first new vehicle from the Alliance. Depending on its success, Renault and Nissan will do the same in their respective regions of focus before crossing over for competition. The vehicle in question is a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) for the C/D segment, or a vehicle ranging from subcompact car to large car. This comes as a bit of a surprise for Mitsubishi Motors, with the latest two concepts to come from the automaker being plug-in SUVs, like the Engelberg Tourer.

There has been talk of Mitsubishi resurrecting the famous Lancer or Lancer Evolution on a new crossover platform. Not many fans of the Lancer EVO think a crossover could replace the sports car, a favorite of DIY mod racers. At the same time, one glance at Mitsubishi Motors’ lineup, and there isn’t a whole lot of variety, at least not for the U.S. market. A smaller car could be exactly what Mitsubishi Motors needs to break back into the U.S. and rethinking the Lancer Crossover might be for the best.

In the early 90s, there was a sports car known as the Mitsubishi 3000GT, and this had competitors like Ferrari a little shaken up. The 3000GT had a sibling known as the Eclipse, and we know what happened to that moniker – it’s on the fancy Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross crossover. That’s a vehicle that could use a mid-cycle refresh. With Mitsubishi Motors working on a C/D segment car, and a sports car on the wish list for years, it’s possible, but as usual, the internet will never wait to start spreading rumors and imaginings of what could be.

Many renderings on the internet are re-imagining the 3000GT for today as the 4000GT, and they look pretty neat. A handful; move away from the smooth look of the processor and lean in to sharp, aggressive lines with pronounced wheel arches and a longer front overhang for a coupe-like look to the hood. A couple of more tweaks to the headlights and other light fixtures are apparent, but all-in-all, this is definitely a gorgeous render of what the Mitsubishi 4000GT could look like. An improvement on the original design (below)?

Yay or nay to the new design? Or maybe Mitsubishi Motors is completely out of the racing game. Let us know your thoughts on University Mitsubishi social media.

Photo Source/Copyright: Matthew Parsons / Behance.net; Wikipedia