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Hiroaki Yoshimatsu

Hiroaki Yoshimatsu

MitsubishiDevelopment team member

Timeline

  1. 1980

    Joined

    Mitsubishi

  2. 1992
    Lancer Evolution I
    Lancer Evolution I

    1992–1994Development team member

    "The Galant is already too big"

    Yoshimatsu saw the WRC for the first time at the RAC Rally in Britain. The Galant VR-4 won, but he could not get the strength of the Lancia Delta Integrale, which had not entered this event, out of his head, and he felt the Galant was already too big to fight on this stage. Without a smaller, lighter car they could not win. Back in Japan he went around arguing that "we can't win like this," but there was a plan to make the Galant even bigger with a 2.0 L V6. The one who reached out to him was Kazuyoshi Kobayashi, who had developed the base Lancer, and who pushed him on: "If you want to do it, go all the way." Yoshimatsu proposed moving the VR-4's 4G63 turbo and 4WD into the Lancer.

    One year of development, and a "department store of troubles"

    The conditions Kobayashi set were tough. The development period was only about a year, and if they found a failure after release, they could not fix it for a year. The tires, too, had to keep the base car's outer diameter as a rule, and the only thing allowed was larger wheels. Once testing began, the Lancer with the transplanted engine and 4WD broke one thing after another, like a department store of troubles. In particular, at the base of the rear multi-link, the lightly built mounting points on the body side tore off and cracked. Kobayashi stayed calm, saying, "If something has broken, fixing that spot is the most efficient countermeasure," and by stamping out the problems one by one they made it to the debut in September.

    The "Evolution" name, bought for one million yen

    The last candidates left for the car's name were a name recalling the revival of the famous "Lan-Tabo" (Lancer Turbo), "Revolution", and "Evolution". When they were shown to Yukimichi Kitane, general manager of the Product Planning Department, "Let's go with Evolution" was decided on the spot, because it expressed the product plan just as it was. On checking, however, they found that a company thought to be a clothing maker had already registered Evolution as a trademark. Unable to give up, Yoshimatsu bowed to Kitane to get the company's permission, and went to buy the name for about one million yen at the prices of the time.

Profile

From Okayama Prefecture. An engineer in charge of product planning at Mitsubishi Motors. He proposed moving the Galant VR-4's 4G63 turbo and 4WD into the Lancer, and was involved in developing the first Lancer Evolution (Evo I).

Translated from Japanese sources.

Mitsubishi engineers

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