TommyKaira Takes on the Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart, First Official Photo

It looks like Japanese tuning firm Tommy Kaira is on a roll lately. Besides releasing initial details on its proposed tuning packages for the latest generation Toyota Prius hybrid, Tommy Kaira has also published the first official photo / rendering of the company's take on the Japanese domestic market Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart that has been christened the Colt-R.

We're still short on details, but the picture reveals that the modified Colt-R gets a cosmetic makeover with a redesigned front end that includes a new grille and a more aggressively styled bumper while the 5-door supermini also features a carbon-fiber racing strip that runs nose-to-tail.

As with other Tommy Kaira projects including the Prius, the Colt-R has been stripped out of any Mitsubishi and Ralliart brand logos.

While we don't have any other photos of the final product (the rest of the images in the gallery depict an unfinished prototype model), we suspect that Tommy Kaira's Colt-R will also get a newly styled rear bumper with matching side skirts, roof spoiler and different alloy wheels, and maybe even some mechanical upgrades.

The standard JDM Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart is powered by a 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine with 154HP that sends power to the front wheels through a Getrag five-speed manual gearbox.

The Japanese tuner said that further details and photos will be released at a later date.

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Mitsubishi Withdraws from Dakar and all Cross-Country Rallies

Another one bites the dust; the latest victim of the widespread financial crisis is Mitsubishi's off-road sport division as the Japanese firm has decided to withdraw from the Dakar Rally, the Dakar Series and all cross-country rallies. Mitsubishi had taken part in the Dakar rally twenty-six times, winning a total of twelve times, including seven consecutive victories.

"The sudden deterioration of the global economy made it necessary for the company to focus its resources more tightly, and for this reason the decision was taken to withdraw its Mitsubishi Motorsports (MMSP) works team from all cross-country competitions," said the company in a statement.

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Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback 5-door with up to 237HP Coming to U.S. this Summer

It's official; Mitsubishi has confirmed that the all-new five-door Lancer Sportback will arrive in U.S. dealerships this summer as a 2010 model year. Though one would expect the opposite, the 5-door Sportback's overall length is actually slightly longer than the Lancer four-door sedan. The Sportback will be offered in the States in two trims, the GTS model fitted with a 2.4-liter 4-cylinder engine producing 168-hp, mated to either a five-speed manual or six-speed CVT automatic transmission, and the one that most of us are interested in, the Ralliart version powered by a 2.0-liter turbocharged engine pumping out 237-hp and 253 lb.-ft. of torque.

The Lancer Sportback Ralliart will come with the EVO's all-wheel control (AWC) with Active Center Differential (ACD) and six-speed Twin Clutch-Sportronic Shift Transmission (TC-SST). Pricing and detailed information on the U.S.-spec Lancer Sportback will be announced nearer to its summer on-sale date.

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New Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart with 1.5 Turbo Debuts Aside Colt Facelift

Thanks to a set of images that had made their way into the web ahead of the Paris Show, we knew what to expect from the facelift Colt. What we didn’t know is that Mitsubishi replaced the outgoing Colt CZT with a Ralliart version that will be available for the first time in Europe, in both three-door and five-door variant. All 2009 Colts get a new fascia with Mitsubishi’s shark-like grille along with a redesigned bumper and oddly shaped headlamps that bring it inline with the latest Mitsubishi models. -Continued

At the rear, the 3door version gets darker taillights and a new bumper while the 5door also features newly styled tailamps. New wheels complement the new exterior design, including dark finish dual 5-spokes for the two Ralliart variants.

Inside, changes for the 2009 models include a new instrument panel, redesigned controls for the a/c, a Lancer inspired steering wheel and a new graining for the black upper padding of the dashboard together with higher quality seat material.

In parallel to the existing petrol engines (1.1 / 75ps, 1.3 / 95ps, 1.5 / 109ps), Mitsubishi will introduce new “low CO2” variants of the facelifted Colt, under the name of “Clear Tec”. These variants will feature amongst other things, start and stop and regenerative braking technologies, leading to an improvement of over 10% in terms of CO2 emissions.

Despite its promising name, the Colt Ralliart has retained the basic features of the outgoing Colt CZT including the 150HP 1.5-liter turbo engine which is no match for its European counterparts like the new Seat Ibiza Cupra or the Renault Clio RS just to mention a few.

Mitsubishi claims that compared to the previous Colt CZT and in addition to a stronger structure, the Colt Ralliart suspension has been amended in eight different points for sharper driving dynamics, including reduced body roll thanks to a thicker front stabilizer bar.

Depending upon the market and except for the Clear Tec variants which will be introduced in 2009, the next generation Colt will be launched in Europe in October / November 2008.

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Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback and Ralliart: 41 High-Res Photos

Less than a week before the new Lancer Sportback and its 240HP Ralliart sibling make their world debut at the Mondial De L’Automobile in Paris, Mitsubishi released a full set of images of both versions of the 5door Lancer hatchback or as we prefer to call it for apparent aesthetic reasons, hunchback. Hit the jump to check out our high-resolution image gallery or click here to read the initial details on the new Lancer Sportback range. -Continued

2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback Ralliart 240HP 2.0-liter Turbo

2009 Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback

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