According to Edmunds Inside Line, Japanese buyers are more interested in their tiny little keicars than the much larger Mitsubishi Lancer, a car that wouldn't even crack midsize in the states. As such, the company will introduce the redesigned Lancer in the US before it's launched in Japan — which, among Japanese automakers, happens as frequently as the Year of the Parakeet. In fact, the 2008 Lancer will arrive in the US in mid-2007, six months before the Japanese model comes out late in the year. The move underscores the new Lancer's status as a hail-mary pass — into a charging herd of Buffalo.

U.S. Will Be First To Get New Mitsubishi Lancer [Edmunds]

Related:
Caught On Tape: 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Spy Video [internal]