Mitsubishi, headquartered in Japan but with an American production plant in Illinois and design studios plus a technical center in California, offers five different car models in 2004 for the North American market and several are designed and assembled in the United States.

The made-in-America Mitsubishis for 2004 include a racy hatchback Eclipse coupe and the drop-top variation, Eclipse Spyder, plus the mid-size Galant sedan that shows up in expanded new editions. Mitsubishi's luxurious Diamante flagship sedan grew out of designs created in Japan, with assembly worked out in Australia.

And Lancer - conformed as a sporty notchback sedan for the compact class plus a new Sportback five-door hatchback wagon variation - comes together in Japan, as does the powerful new Lancer Evolution. It's a high-performance version of Mitsubishi's Lancer compact sedan but motivated by a souped-up turbo engine and equipped with all-wheel-drive (AWD) traction.

Eclipse as a slinky coupe and the convertible Spyder look daring with styling in geo-mechanical sculptures blending geometric patterns with edgework from hard mechanical forms. The entry-issue Eclipse RS coupe gains more standard equipment for 2004 including power mirrors and a six-speaker audio system.

Galant, riding on a new platform, measures larger in package size with the expansive cabin fit for five. It also provides stronger engines with four-cylinder and V6 options.

Diamante flashes new fascia with a front-end styling re-do and the cabin has new materials and more standard gear aboard. Fresh styling points also go to Lancer with more models in the lineup like the new Ralliart edition. Lancer's five-door Sportback model also debuts in 2004 as Mitsubishi crafts an affordable compact sport wagon.

Consider the new Lancer Evolution as the sum of all performance and competition technologies developed by Mitsubishi's trophy-grabbing World Rally Championship (WRC) racing campaign over the past decade.

The flagship sedan from Mitsubishi projects sophisticated exterior lines in a mid-size package with five seats in the cabin. Issues for 2004 reflect styling revisions with new front fascia and hood plus new designs for 16-inch wheels. In the cabin there's a new instrument panel and a center console added between two front bucket seats.

Base Diamante ES and plush LS editions are joined by a bold VR-X. It wears aggressive side skirt air dams and wheel lip moldings, with chrome tips evident on exhaust pipes. Optional for VR-X is a premium Leather Package and Sport Package with Infinity audio system and tail spoiler. Under the hood, VR-X earns five more power points in the 3.5-liter V6 for a total of 210 hp.

Diamante ES has seats covered in new fabrics this year, while LS provides deluxe features like leather seats plus heat elements in front seats and side mirrors. It also gets a Sportronic transmission, as does the VR-X. With Sportronic manual mode, the shifter lever slides laterally into a side gate, where to-or-fro action bumps up or down the gear ladder one notch at a time. (CONTINUED...)