The Mitsubishi Starion had great success in Australian Motorsport during the 1980's. With Group A Starions putting out well over 300 HP at the wheels they were no stranger to the number 1 podium. The Starion was Mitsubishi's Gun Ship on the track. But its quirky styling and high price had mixed reactions with the Australian motoring public. Especially when the quicker factory spec Cordia Turbo was nearly $10,000 cheaper to buy. While Australia recieved 125kw Leaded and eventually 110kw Unleaded variants of the Starion. Japan's base model Starion featured a 12 Valve 4G63BT engine thats factory power output was 150kw@6000rpm & 275Nm@3600rpm. 
Also the Japanese were treated to a limited run of 250kw All wheel drive Starions. Which were mostly used for Race and Rally purposes. And weighed in at a 960kg. 
MMC were even commisioned to build a special Starion for the popular Cantonese actor Jacky Chan. Who drove a Wild Black Starion in the 1980's Hollywood film "Cannonball Run 2" The sucess of this film in the U.S. helped with the Starions impending release there. Like a lot of Mitsubishis 80's performers in Australia. The dreaded lower octane Unleaded petrol saw the JD Starion lose a lot of its punch. Eventually in Japan the GTO replaced the highly revered Starion. The GTO was a very popular Grand Tourer in Japan and the U.S. . Unfortunately in Australia the GTO(300GT) was priced way too high, So it had limited sales success in Australia and was canned from Mitsubishi Australias New conservative line up in the mid 90's.  |
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