Did you know that Mitsubishi engineers designed and built the very first production four wheel drive (4WD) vehicles in Japan 80 years ago? It’s no wonder Mitsubishi is widely known for their innovative engineering.
AWC is the brand name of a four-wheel drive system developed by Mitsubishi Motors. The system was first implemented in the 2001 Lancer Evolution VII. The 4WD drive technology is the glue that holds Mitsubishi together and has been aided in Mitsubishi’s longstanding motor sports activities and long history in rally racing spanning almost half a century. As a motorsports racing team, Mitsubishi Motors has won the grueling and unforgiving Dakar Rally which, as of the 2015 event, has been run 36 times – and Mitsubishi has been victorious in their category 12 times to date.
According to Mitsubishi: “…AWC is a four-wheel dynamic control philosophy for maximally exploiting the capability of all four tires of a vehicle in a balanced manner to realize predictable handling and high marginal performance.”
Although the AWC was initially developed for the high performance Lancer Evolution full-time four-wheel drive models, the system is now incorporated in Mitsubishi’s other 4WD vehicles, each having its own distinct configuration.
Jim Shorkey Mitsubishi 