Before the advent of the crossover and SUV, it could be said that the midsize sedan was the aspirational car back in the day. As more people drove compact and subcompact vehicles, anything bigger than those was seen as prestigious.
One of the cars that defined that segment in the country was the Mitsubishi Galant. Introduced as the Colt Galant in the late ’60s, it lived a long and colorful history. And you know a car has gained iconic status if it’s earned nicknames over the years. For those of a, er, certain age, do the words Sigma, Lambda, GTi, Ray-Ban, and Shark ring a bell?
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Sadly, the decline of Galant and midsize sedan sales worldwide meant Mitsubishi pulled the plug on the model in 2012. Its discontinuation capped 43 years of production after nine generations, and Mitsubishi has since abandoned that once competitive segment.
But the thing is, there was supposed to be a tenth generation of the Mitsubishi Galant. In fact, the company even previewed it 17 years ago during the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the Concept-ZT.
While never officially called a Galant, all the hallmarks of that model were present in the concept version. It borrowed styling cues from the then new Lancer EX, but executed in a more elegant way. If anything, the Concept-ZT was looked more like a thinly veiled production model that was ready to hit the showrooms. Even the interior looked functional, and wouldn’t look out of place in a production vehicle.
There were even specs released for the Concept-ZT. It measured 4,950mm long, 1,820mm wide, 1,440mm tall, with a wheelbase of 2,815mm, making it a fair bit larger than the ninth-ten Galant. More interesting was the engine specifications. It used a 2.3-liter turbodiesel that made 187hp and 400Nm of torque. That same engine would later be developed into the 4N15, also known as the engine used in the Montero Sport and Strada.
Other technical details? It featured Mitsubishi’s dual clutch transmission dubbed the Twin-Clutch SST, and featured S-AWC (Super All-Wheel Control) lifted straight from the Lancer Evolution X. It even had an early version of what we now know as advanced driver assist systems. There was autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, and lane-keep assist, to name a few.
Unfortunately, the Concept-ZT didn’t become the tenth-gen Galant. Midsize sedan sales just weren’t there anymore, further compounded by the global financial crisis of 2008. While it would have been nice to see an all-new Galant come to life, it simply didn’t make sense from a business standpoint.
While it would’ve been nice to see this concept become the new-get Galant, the decision to not go through with it was the wise choice. As promising as it looked, Mitsubishi needed volume drivers, not an executive sedan that’s lucky to see 150,000 units every year worldwide. We’d like to think Mitsubishi diverted its resources into building better and more appealing pickups, MPVs, and SUVs, a move that has since paid off in the Asia-Pacific region.
