8:25 am, July 1, 2008
CAR dealers are once again the first to spot the latest trends in the market.
The latest snippet spotted is a shift in customer profile for Mitsubishi’s bonkers new Evolution X super-saloon.
It seems word from the floor is that a good proportion of those switching to it are doing so from premium German makes, such as BMW and Audi. Two-fifths of customers are bringing in a German model as a trade in against a new Evo SST – with almost a further third switching from other Japanese cars.
This is great news for Mitsubishi, which has been keen to push the new Evo upmarket. And it’s the twin-clutch SST model that’s been key to interest from those new to the brand; look to the manual, and that two-fifths figure halves. It seems hardcore current Evo drivers still want to do the work themselves.
Lance Bradley, Mitsubishi UK’s sales and marketing director said that, ‘this shows that the new Evolution X is certainly attracting people out of German cars, especially into the SST, and that the manual gearbox car is not only attracting traditional Evo customers, but also customers of other Japanese marques.’
Furthermore, several supercars have been traded in against new Lancer Evolution Xs… with one dealer handing over a Lancer Evolution X FQ-300 SST and a cheque for £90,000 against a Ferrari F430!
