CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE

There’s a certain appropriateness to the way Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution models evolve at the hands of tuners and modifiers. After all, the very nature of natural selection and genetic variation are baked right in to the formula – it says it right there on the bootlid, the car’s all about evolution. And this is something the brand has been proudly displaying for over 150 years.

One of the oldest and most diverse manufacturing outfits in Japan, Mitsubishi was founded in 1870 as a shipping firm; the name translates as ‘three diamonds’, hence the iconic badge. The firm rapidly diversified – shipping requires coal, so company founder Yataro Iwasaki made inroads into the coal-mining business, then setup an iron mill to provide the requisite raw materials, before starting a marine insurance business. The aim was to cover all angles in-house, and that’s a philosophy which has continued throughout Mitsubishi’s history: today the company deals in cars, aerospace technology, nuclear energy, home electronics, machine tools, space launch vehicles, financial services, even