Mitsubishi Colt

The Colt is facing up to a bright future! These are the first pictures of the facelifted city car, which received its global unveil at the Paris Motor Show.

But it doesn’t just get a stylish new look inspired by the Evo X performance saloon – Mitsubishi also used the show to reveal that its ‘Cleartec’ eco-friendly strategy will debut on the Colt. The 74bhp 1.1-litre model gets stop-start technology for the first time. This reduces CO2 emissions by 10 per cent to 116g/km, making the supermini one of the cleanest models in the class. It goes on sale this month, while next year the Colt will be available in Flexfuel form, which means it will be capable of running on bioethanol. The firm has also revised the hot Colt Ralliart version, which has stiffer suspension for a more involving driving experience. It goes on sale in January.

Meanwhile, the company has confirmed it will be bringing around 200 examples of its i-MiEV electric car to the UK next year – making Mitsubishi the first manufacturer to sell a supermini that runs purely on electric power. It is waiting to see if there is any Government assistance for the clean, green plug-in machine, but the firm anticipates a price tag of between £15,000 and £20,000.