Mitsubishi EV sports car not before 2017

At the 2012 Geneva Motor Show, Mitsubishi made it clear that it wants to be a leader in the electric vehicle market, with the launch of the plug-in hybrid Outlander - a stepping stone towards achieving this goal.

Another vehicle revealed in Geneva was the i-MiEV Prototype tarmac rally car, designed to take on the infamous Pikes Peak hill climb in the USA.

But the icing on the cake would be a high-performance electric car available to the general public.

Speaking to motoring.com.au at the Geneva Motor Show, Mitsubishi President Osamu Masuko said that in the short term, mass produced electric cars will dwell in high volume markets: "Electric is more for passenger cars up to the B-segment, so it’ll be B-segment and SUV [for the time being]," stated Masuko-san.

However he did confirm that a performance electric vehicle is on the cards, and it's could be an electric Lancer Evolution, or possibly something more exotic, like the Concept RA (pictured).

"It is future technology and not [available to the public] within two to three years. It's very difficult to launch such a powerful EV. But within five or 10 years, yeah, of course we [will] challenge to develop such a type of performance car."

Previously Mitsubishi has talked up hybrid versions of the Lancer Evolution sports car and even an electric version of the iconic all-wheel drive performance car, one that would make use of four in-wheel electric motors.

The pint-sized Pikes Peak i-MiEV Prototype race car will provide the company with insights into how to further develop a performance EV, and Masuko-san was cautiously confident it would perform: "We hope at the Pikes Peak rally that we can prove the EV can perform as good as conventional cars."

Several European manufacturers are already working in electric or hybrid performance cars, including BMW, Audi, Porsche and Mercedes-Benz and Californian company Tesla now sells its electric sports cars in Australia.

Mitsubishi is serious about becoming a world leader in the EV field, outlining its plan that half of all the cars it manufactures will be either fully electric or plug-in hybrids by 2020.

And what better way to market this electric shift to than a highly visible halo model?

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