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Next Mitsubishi Lancer To Be Developed In-House

The Mitsubishi Lancer has fallen a tad significantly behind in the competitive compact car segment. Almost every automaker has introduced at least once new generation of a competing compact vehicle since the current-generation Lancer went on sale in 2007 as a 2008 model. Flash-forward eight years, and we’re still staring at the same Mitsubishi Lancer.

The unfortunate news is that a new Lancer is still at least 18 months away, according to Don Swearingen, executive vice president of Mitsubishi Motors North America via WardsAuto.

Swearington stated the next-generation Mitsubishi Lancer is now being developed in-house, as the company realizes that it has fallen behind in the segment while looking for a partner with which to co-develop the vehicle. In the meantime, the Japanese automaker is still actively seeking a partner to subsidize development costs.

“We are talking with a potential partner at this time, [but] at the same time we’re doing an internal design of the vehicle,” said Swearington. “We’re running parallel because we cannot wait any longer to see if a partnership will work out. If it falls through then we’re another year behind.”

Hey, maybe FCA would love to sit down for a chat.

At one point, Mitsubishi was working with Renault to develop a new generation of C- and D-segment cars but the deal ended up falling through. Motor Trend now reports talks between Mitsubishi and Nissan have begun, but nothing concrete has been reported at this time.

On the enthusiast side of things, Mitsubishi has still made it crystal clear we will not see a successor to the Lancer Evolution once the next-generation Lancer does show face. Sigh.

Sean is a staff writer for GM Authority and Motrolix. When's he's not busy taking in local automotive culture, he's probably detailing his car.

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