Big changes to Mitsubishi Colt & Lancer

To be officially unveiled at September?s Frankfurt motor show, the Concept-Sportback

is the first in-the-metal indication of what the embattled Japanese manufacturer?s next generation Lancer small car will look like.

According to Mitsubishi, the concept "gives the first indications of the company?s vision for its

next generation of C-segment cars and debuts its design inspiration for a new European five-door sports hatchback".

In a radical departure from the current Lancer, the five-door hatch was styled after the departure of controversial French designer Olivier Boulay and features a distinctive wedge-shaped profile, sharply-chiselled lines and a wheel-at-each-corner stance thanks to a long wheelbase and wide wheel tracks.

The new-generation model will be based on a new platform to be shared with a small Dodge (Caliber) and two Jeep 4WDs, probably the Compass and the Patriot we showed earlier this week.

Meanwhile the new L200, or Colt, has a completely new design, as we showed in our spy shots last month.

Available in Single Cab, Club Cab and four-door Double Cab body types, the new Colt will also add high driving standards to the mid-size pickup equation, with its contemporary SUV-like permanent Super Select 4-wheel drive system, active stability and traction control with 17 inch wheels and a tight, class-leading turning circle.

The new Colt bakkie in action - here the Double Cab

The new Colt will offer all the key work-related attributes, while being eminently capable on and off-road, thanks to its totally redesigned hydro-formed fully boxed frame and new independent front suspension and rear live axle set-up.

Engine options in overseas versions include:

- 2.5-litre Indirect Turbodiesel (4D56) capable of 67 kW at 4 000 r/min and 196 Nm at 2 000 r/min.

- 2.5-litre DI-D Hyper Common Rail Turbo (4D56), producing 86 kW at 4 000 r/min and 247 Nm at 2 000 r/min

- 2.5-litre DI-D Hyper Common Rail Turbo Intercooler (4D56), capable of 104 kW at 4 000 r/min and 321 Nm at 2000 rpm

- 3.2-litre DI-D Hyper Common Rail Turbo Intercooler (4M41), capable of 123 kW at 4 000 r/min and 351 Nm at 2 000 r/min.

It is not yet known which engine versions will be available here.