KEY POINTS:
Mitsubishi is aiming the car it calls the Racing Lancer at next year's Dakar off-road rally which moves from Europe and North Africa to South America.
The Japanese carmaker has dominated the tortuous Dakar for many years with its specially-built Pajero models.
The race served as a sales and marketing platform for the vehicle and as a proving ground for powertrains and four-wheel-drive transmissions.
But this year's race was cancelled only hours before competitors left start centre Lisbon because of terrorist fears along the North African route to Dakar.
Mitsubishi will now use the change in venue to highlight a new global diesel powerplant under the bonnet of the rough-and-tumble Lancer, which takes over the competition baton from the Pajero Evolution.
The company says its rally Lancer combines 35 years of the Lancer's rally heritage with 25 years of the Pajero racer's competition success.
The Racing Lancer will reach a wider market audience than any of its predecessors while relaunching Lancer's racing career.
It will be unveiled at the Paris motor show in October. The vehicle is code-named MRX09 (Mitsubishi Rally Cross-Country 2009) and based on the (CJ) Lancer Sportback that is expected to go on sale in New Zealand this year.
The racing model boasts its own carbon-fibre bodywork and uses a new, computer-aided, engineered, multi-tubular steel frame that allows for an optimised mechanical layout.
It is classified as a Super Production Cross-Country Rally Car that complies with the FIA's Group T1 regulations (modified cross-country rally cars), as well as a new set of rules ear-marked from 2010.
But it will be used to support Mitsubishi's passenger car offensive in much the same way that the Pajero Evolution racer did for its street-legal parent SUV.
The global engine is a 3-litre V6 turbodiesel that Mitsubishi says will cut fuel consumption and exhaust emissions. There are no official output figures yet but it is expected to produce 190kW and 650Nm of torque.
The Pajero Evolution has been running the new V6 diesel in several off-road races over the last few months.
Mitsubishi says that going diesel is in line with its new One Segment, One Green Solution campaign to be rolled out at the Paris show as part of its mid-term passenger car strategy for Europe.
An all-new V4 turbodiesel - dubbed the 4N13 series - will be added to the engine line-up under the greener philosophy, although this unit will go directly into a production vehicle.
Mitsubishi has high hopes for its new rally weapon, referring to it as a major player at the 2009 Dakar rally particularly as, according to Mitsubishi, the end result is a crossover between on-road and off-road rallying as well as applying to passenger cars and SUVs.
MRX09 SPECIFICATIONS
* Overall length - 4475mm
* Overall width - 1990mm
* Wheelbase - 2900mm
* Track - (front/rear) 1750mm/1750mm
* Weight - 1900kg
* Engine - 2997cc V6 turbodiesel
* Maximum power - 190kW-plus
* Maximum torque - 650Nm-plus
* Transmission - Ricardo five-speed sequential manual
* 4WD system - Permanent, limited-slip central differential
