Mitsubishi Motors’ rally monster sports sedan may be an evolutionary dead end, but the Evolution moniker itself may live to see itself applied to a different animal.

More precisely, perhaps it’s just the “EVO” part itself. According to Autocar, Mitsubishi Motors’ head Tetsuro Aikawa expressed an interest in continuing the Evo line as en electric vehicle. In Japanese, the word for “king” can be pronounced as “oh,” and so “EVO” would be the “electric vehicle king.”

The Mitsubishi ASX, known in the US as the Outlander Sport, may serve as the basis for the company’s next performance machine. “It has to be light and fast – something performance-oriented,” Aikawa clarified, “That’s what we want.”

This echoes previous statements made by Mitsubishi head product planner Kanenori Okamoto, who has said the beloved Lancer Evolution would be replaced “in spirit” by a performance SUV.

The idea may not be as far fetched as it seems at first blush. Mitsubishi has been in the lead when it comes to developing electric rally cars for use in events such as the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. Last year, such a car set a new Electric Vehicle record on the famous Colorado course. Mitsubishi has also focused much of its motorsports efforts on racing SUVs in events like the Dakar Rally, where it won the grueling event 12 times overall, including a 7-year-in-a-row streak in the mid aughts.

Live images by Ronan Glon.

In what is one of the worst kept secrets in the truck kingdom, the next-generation Toyota Hilux has now been photographed in the sheetmetal, in its entirety. What’s more engine specs have also been leaked from an internal presentation.

The latest photos of the famously indestructible pickup confirms exactly what was already suspected from the advertising materials leaked last week. The broad wheel arches, swept -back headlights and contoured hood are all part of the production model. Earlier photos, surreptitiously taken in Toyota’s Thailand plant where the truck will be built, showed the corners of a lower-grade model without foglights. Now the entire truck has been seen from nose to tail.

The new set of images also reveal illuminated daytime running lights that appear to be LEDs, a new alloy wheel design, and a longer two-row cabin. Furthermore, the interior has now been revealed for the first time, showing a beefy three-spoke steering wheel and a dash dominated by a large touchscreen that almost looks as if it could double as a detachable tablet.

In a separate leak during what appears to be an internal presentation in Thailand, engine choices are revealed to be two diesels with variable geometry turbocharging. The first, a 2.4L, produces 160hp and 295 lb-ft of torque when mated to a 6-speed automatic, or 165hp and 253 lb-ft with a 5-speed manual. A 2.8L unit make 174hp and 310 lb-ft of torque with a 6-speed manual, while a 6-speed auto gearbox version is good for 332 lb-ft.

Toyota will likely confirm these specs officially soon.

British tuner Kahn Design has introduced a new Land Rover Defender-based model called Flying Huntsman 105 Pick Up.
Like the wild Flying Huntsman 6×6 concept that was presented in last March in Geneva, the Pick Up gains 15 extra inches of sheet metal up front and wide fender flares all around. Kahn promises that the truck’s front end has been upgraded with a custom radiator grille, blacked-out headlights and a new bumper, components designed to mask the Defender’s purely utilitarian roots.

The pickup rides on 18-inch Defend 1945 Retro Wheels painted in flat black with a contrasting gold stripe around the outer edge.

Interior pictures have not been published but Kahn says the cockpit has been spruced up with sport seats for the front passengers, a Kahn billet steering wheel, machined aluminum pedals and a Churchill clock on the dash. The door panels, the center console, the dashboard and the seats are all upholstered with black leather.

While the previous Flying Huntsman was powered by a 400-horsepower V8 engine sourced from the General Motors parts bin, the pickup gets by with an unmodified Defender-sourced 2.2-liter four-cylinder turbodiesel mill. The oil-burner sends 130 horsepower and 265 lb-ft. of torque to all four wheels via a manual transmission.

The Kahn Flying Huntsman 105 Pick Up is available to order now. In the United Kingdom, it carries a base price of £58,875 (about $91,000) before taxes and options are factored in.

Peugeot has confirmed that the sleek RCZ coupe will be axed at the end of the current model’s life cycle.
“I love the RCZ but I want us to focus on making the best of our core models,” explained Peugeot CEO Maxime Picat on the sidelines of the Shanghai Motor Show. “Chasing niches is for premium brands; for us, it has been a distraction.”

The move is part of Peugeot-Citroën’s plan to drop no less than 19 nameplates by the year 2022 in a bid to streamline its operations and become a more profitable company. Hailed as the most powerful street car Peugeot has ever built, the RCZ has been relatively successful for a coupe but it remains a low-volume model that puts a burden on Peugeot’s day-to-day operations.

Peugeot has not disclosed when it is planning to deep-six the RCZ. The coupe is undeniably starting to show its age, it went on sale in 2009 and was last updated in 2012, so it will most likely be phased out in the next year or two.

What’s next?
Although the RCZ is not long for this world, Peugeot is not entirely giving up on performance cars. The automaker’s Peugeot Sport division is working overtime to develop a hot-rodded version of the 308 hatchback that will fight head-to-head against the new Volkswagen Golf R and the upcoming Ford Focus RS.

Tentatively scheduled to go on sale in Europe and in China later this year, the yet-unnamed sport-focused 308 will get a muscular look inspired by the 308 R HYbrid that was presented in Shanghai last week and a tuned turbo four that will generate at least 300 horsepower.

Photos by Ronan Glon.

Mercedes-Benz is like an iceberg. In the United States, we only see the tip of it because the company largely sells well-spec’d sedans and crossovers equipped with a relatively large engine. Europe sees the whole thing, and our friends across the pond can buy a base-model C-Class powered by a 1.6-liter four-cylinder mill, a handful of station wagons that we don’t get here, the unstoppable Unimog and a heavy-duty truck called Actros, just to name a few.

The newest addition to the bottom part of the iceberg is the CLA-Class Shooting Brake. Discreetly introduced last November, the wagon is billed as a smaller, more affordable but nonetheless stylish alternative to the CLS Shooting Brake.

What is it?
On paper, the Shooting Brake is quite simply a roomier version of the CLA that we get on our shores. The two cars are essentially identical from the tip of the front bumper to the A-pillar, but beyond that the Shooting Brake gets a longer roofline and noticeably taller rear windows. The CLA’s rakish C-pillar has been retained, and it’s the main visual difference between the Shooting Brake and more traditional station wagons like the C-Class Estate.

The Shooting Brake’s rear end falls in line with the aforementioned CLS thanks to a slanted hatch, elongated tail lamps and a roof-mounted spoiler. Don’t let the family-friendly look fool you, the Shooting Brake still embodies the concept of form over function but the ratio has been tweaked to provide a little more of the latter.

The Shooting Brake stretches 182.2 inches long, 69.6 inches wide and 56.2 inches tall, dimensions that make it exactly the same size as its four-door counterpart. It weighs about 66 pounds more than the 3,395-pound CLA 250 coupe.

In Europe, the Shooting Brake is available with a long list of gasoline- and diesel-burning engines including a 1.6-liter four-cylinder gas-powered unit rated at 120 horsepower and a familiar 2.1-liter turbodiesel that makes anywhere between 134 and 175 ponies depending on its state of tune. Tested here, the CLA 250 packs a 2.0-liter gas-burning mill that generates 208 horsepower at 5,500 rpm and 258 lb-ft. of torque between 2,250 and 5,000 rpm. A seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission transfers power to the front wheels, but our tester was equipped with the optional 4Matic all-wheel drive system.

On the road
You’d think the CLA 250 Shooting Brake would drive exactly like its sedan counterpart but that’s not the case. Since the wagon will likely haul people and gear more often than the coupe, Mercedes has fitted it with a slightly softer suspension setup that noticeably improves the ride, especially on rough surfaces. It’s still firm, the Shooting Brake puts more of an emphasis on sport than on wagon, but it’s more comfortable to drive on a regular basis.

Similarly, the turbo four strikes a balance between power and every day drivability. It’s not brutal, your mother-in-law won’t refuse to ride in the 250 the way she might turn down a high-speed jaunt in, say, a CLS 63, but it’s peppy and responsive enough to convince you take the long way home from work. We found the steering to be a little on the assisted side but at least it’s direct, the Shooting Brake will go exactly where you point it, and Mercedes’ excellent 4Matic all-wheel drive system keeps it glued to the road. Beefy disc brakes on all four corners bring the action to a stop with no fuss, even on the wet tarmac we encountered on the outskirts of Frankfurt.

We also spent time behind the wheel of the CLA 45 AMG Shooting Brake, which is powered by Mercedes-AMG’s well-regarded 355-horsepower 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine. The 45′s acceleration is downright impressive – hitting the speed limiter on the Autobahn is a cakewalk -, the brakes are powerful enough to stop a freight train and the seven-speed dual-clutch shifts instantly, at least when the steering wheel-mounted paddles are used. However, those are all attributes that we expected to find before slipping behind the wheel of a machine with an AMG badge on the trunk lid.

The best – and most surprising – part about the CLA 45 AMG is how well it sticks to the road, even if you take a corner a little faster than you should have. Part of it comes down to electronic driving aids, no doubt, but the handling is praise-worthy nonetheless, especially because you don’t really feel the driving aids kick in. All told, Mercedes has built one of the best-handling and most nimble station wagons out there.

Life aboard
From the driver’s seat, the Shooting Brake is standard CLA fare. That means the steering is commanded through a meaty three-spoke wheel, the instrument cluster is made up of four analog gauges and a configurable TFT screen, the COMAND infotainment system is navigated using a small controller knob found on the center console and rear visibility is not very good.

For the passengers riding in the back the Shooting Brake is an entirely new car. It’s a lot easier to access the rear seats and head room has been increased by about an inch and a half, though it’s still limited compared to other similarly-sized and -priced wagons. The taller windows mean that the rear passengers see a lot more of the outside world, too.

The Shooting Brake offers 17.4 cubic feet of trunk space with four occupants on board and 47.8 cubic feet with the rear seats folded flat. For the sake of comparison, the GLA’s cargo capacity checks in 17.2 and 43.6 cubes, respectively. In short, the Shooting Brake is a lot roomier than its sleek body suggests.

Leftlane‘s bottom line
The CLA Shooting Brake might just be Mercedes’ best compact model to date. It’s more practical than the standard CLA, it’s roomier than the GLA and it handles better than the A-Class. However, like its four-door coupe counterpart the Shooting Brake starts out at a reasonable price but it quickly gets very expensive once options are piled on.

The CLA 45 AMG is downright insane in terms of acceleration and sheer grip, but the 250 tested here is the pick of the litter if you’re looking for a well-balanced driver. That is, until Mercedes decides to bridge the gap between the 250 and the 45 with a mid-level AMG Sport model. It hasn’t been confirmed yet, but we’re crossing our fingers and our toes.

Photos by Ronan Glon.