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I always liked the idea of the FTO, a small, stylish coupe that could fit in below the Eclipse in Mitsubishi's lineup. For some reason, seeing this video today reminded me of the triple-diamond's good old days; you know, back when they put out cars like the twin-turbo, all-wheel-drive 3000GT VR-4 and the turbocharged GS-T and GS-X Eclipses.
They even teased fans with the turbo'd, AWD Eclipse Ralliart concept back in 2006; for some reason, nothing came of it. Who WOULDN'T buy a coupe-ified Evo?
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And what if Mitsubishi had continued to build fast, turbocharged cars as in-house luxury/turbocharged alternatives to their front-wheel-drive lineup? The trick would have been to create a sub-brand along the line of Hyundai's Genesis line of vehicles.
The really sad part is that Hyundai is kicking ass with Genesis (which showed up out of the blue), while Mitsubishi had a brand just sitting around and collecting dust: Ralliart. Marketing the sub-brand as Racing meets Beauty, one would think it impossible to mess that up - but they did. That's what you call a shame.
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