Mitsubishi’s very own Lancer Evolution VI Tommi Makinen Edition has become the most expensive Lancer ever sold at auction. The low-mileage car, which is signed by the rally legend it’s named after, fetched more than £100,000 when the Japanese car company flogged it in an online saleroom.
The car was sold as part of Mitsubishi’s heritage auction, which saw a number of historic vehicles go under the hammer. All 14 vehicles were owned and maintained by Mitsubishi, and were used sparingly for events, marketing and press relations purposes. Some cars, including the pristine Evo VI Tommi Makinen, were occasionally featured in national and international motoring publications.
After the brand announced its departure from the UK market, the vehicles were put up for sale at the beginning of April, with the auction running all month. The Evolution VI Tommi Makinen was always expected to be the star, and it eventually fetched £100,100, making it the world’s most expensive Lancer.
The special edition car with around 10,000 miles on the clock eclipsed the £99,000 paid for a Lancer Evo IX in the US in 2017. Mitsubishi thought one of the other Lancers in the sale – an Evolution IX MR FQ-360 by HKS – also had an outside chance of breaking the record, but it eventually sold for £68,900.
Two other Lancers also featured in the auction, with a Evolution IX Group N Works Rally Car and an Evo X FQ-440 MR special edition both selling for five-figure sums. The rally car, a two-time championship-winner driven by Guy Wilkes and co-driven by Phil Pugh, sold for £61,700, while the FQ-440 – the last ‘official’ Evo ever sold in the UK – went for £58,100.
Other vehicles in the sale included a Mk1 Mitsubishi Shogun that sold for £16,000 and a Starion that sold for £21,100. The 3000 GT attracted even more interest, with a winning bid of £24,500, while the Galant GLSi rally replica sold for £12,500.
“These vehicles represent not only a huge part of Mitsubishi’s heritage and history in the UK, they are also very special vehicles in their own right,” said Mitsubishi Motors in the UK’s operations director and former RalliArt division general manager Paul Bridgen.
“They each have a unique story to tell and they have been cherished and cared for from the day we acquired them. I have overseen the development of some of these vehicles personally so it is difficult to say goodbye to them, but the values they have achieved assures me that they will all go to enthusiastic new owners who understand the provenance and importance of these cars and who will cherish them and preserve them for future generations.”
More on the Lancer Evolution:
Gallery: Mitsubishi heritage collection auction