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Mitsubishi leaves nothing to the imagination

Mitsubishi offers an early look at its offerings for the 2007 Tokyo auto show.

Wayne Cunningham Managing Editor / Roadshow
Wayne Cunningham reviews cars and writes about automotive technology for CNET's Roadshow. Prior to the automotive beat, he covered spyware, Web building technologies, and computer hardware. He began covering technology and the Web in 1994 as an editor of The Net magazine.
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Wayne Cunningham
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While other automakers only tease us with cryptic press releases and sketches of what they'll display at upcoming auto shows, Mitsubishi went ahead and laid it all on the line for the upcoming 2007 Tokyo auto show. The company, which has been doing some very impressive things in the realm of car technology, sent out a release with full details on its show cars. Amongst its lineup is an electric car, a crossover, and a new sedan.

i MiEV Sport
i MiEV Sport Mitsubishi

i MiEV Sport
Mitsubishi has been developing electric vehicles for some time--we've seen the company's work with in-wheel motors at past auto shows. The MiEV has previously been shown and demonstrated, and Mitsubishi feels confident enough with the design to build a sport version of the car. The i MiEV Sport uses in-wheel motors in front and a single motor to drive both rear wheels. Electricity is stored in a lithium-ion battery pack, giving the car approximately 120 miles of range and a top speed of 110 mph.

Concept-ZT
Concept-ZT Mitsubishi

Concept-ZT
A potential design for the next Galant, the Concept-ZT has a sleek roofline and a load of technology. It's driven by a 2.2-liter clean diesel engine mated to Mitsubishi's new dual clutch SST transmission (which we can't wait to get our hands on). Its all-wheel-drive system uses an electronic limited slip differential for the front wheels. Further, it has all-around camera monitoring to help with obstacle avoidance, lane departure warning, and a self-parking system.

Concept-cX
Concept-cX Mitsubishi

Concept-cX
In its release, Mitsubishi calls the Concept-cX a world premiere, but that's not quite true as it was already on display at the 2007 Frankfurt auto show. The Concept-cX is a cool-looking little crossover (or, considering its size, a hatchback) powered by a 1.8-liter clean diesel with the new SST dual clutch transmission. As with the Concept-ZT, the car is slated to have all-wheel-drive. It also uses newly developed "green plastics" made from plant resins, giving vegans very little to gripe about.

We will have full coverage of the 2007 Tokyo auto show on the CNET Car Tech blog.