When Mitsubishi unveiled their latest generation Lancer in 2008, everyone took notice. The car was completely redesigned from the last generation, with a cutting edge design, and new motor options, it was sure to be a hit with the import crowd. And the biggest announcement of all, the new Lancer Evolution would be sold in Canadian dealerships for the first time. Once again, we up here in the North got the shaft, while the Lancer Evo 8 and 9 were sold in the US prior to the Evo 10 (X).

But what about the Lancer Ralliart? The last generation Ralliart was a bit sportier version of the normal Lancer. With bigger wheels, a body kit, and a slightly bigger motor among other extras, it was not as popular to the import tuning crowd as the Civic or Integra platform was, but it was a start nonetheless.

But for this latest generation, Mitsubishi stepped it up. To compete with their main rival Subaru, Mitsu dumped in an AWD system, a variant of the Evo motor and transmission, along with a turbocharger into the new Ralliart, as to keep the playground even with the Subaru STI’s little brother, the WRX.

The Wicked White Ralliart you see here is owned by Tate Subia. It is a good example of a car that is a work in progress with some small details added here and there to help accentuate the look of a car and to separate it from the crowd, while keeping it clean and simple.

As you look at the car, you will notice a few subtle changes, such as red sticker overlays on the Mitsubishi diamond emblems to tie into the red painted brakes, along with the red emblems on the Rally Armor mudflaps. The chrome strip around the grille was painted black to mimic the look of the Evo’s grille, a DIY front lip was added, and the headlights were replaced with Evo style projector units with a set of 4300K HID’s to finish off the front. Yellow foglight bulbs replaced the clear factory ones, and set of OEM window visors are also attached to the car.

The biggest change from a factory Ralliart is the way the car sits on the ground. It is a bit lower and stiffer thanks to the H&R sport springs, and is sitting on a set of Rota Grid (or IKR) sized at an 18 inch diameter, and 8.5 inches wide. It gave the Ralliart an more aggressive look, without really having to really worry about sitting too low to the ground, and also wheel offset issues.

The rear of the car did not go untouched. A carbon fibre RexSpeed lip spoiler were put on the trunk, as was an Ultimate Racing cat-back exhaust. To finish everything off, most of the normal bulbs in the turn signals and brake lights were replaced with LED units.

Tate says this car is always gonna evolve. In fact, since these pictures were taken, a few other things have changed, one of them being a slight tint to the headlights and taillights to give the car a more aggressive look, and yellow tint on the foglight lenses. For now, his the plan is to enjoy this car, and have fun in the winter with the AWD system. But I know for a fact that this car isn’t done. In fact, since I work with him, I will make sure it isn’t. Maybe next year another set of pics will be taken of this car, and it will look nothing like this. 😉

These and more pictures of the car can be found on our Flickr page: HERE