BURLINGTON, Mass. and YOKOHAMA, Japan, Aug. 25, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Exa^® Japan Inc., a subsidiary of Exa Corporation (Nasdaq:EXA), a simulation solutions provider for product engineering, announced that Exa PowerFLOW^® was chosen for the aerodynamic development of Mitsubishi Motor Corporation's electric racecar, the MiEV Evolution III. Mitsubishi's new racecar won its premiere motorsports event at the 2014 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, held in Colorado, USA. Using PowerFLOW, Mitsubishi was able to achieve superior downforce to help its racecar to a record-breaking performance in the electric modified class — the only new world record, in any event, at Pikes Peak this year.

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Mitsubishi prides itself on developing practical electric vehicles with optimal energy efficiency, comfort and performance — offering consumers an appealing, next generation alternative to gasoline-driven vehicles. Mitsubishi has competed in the Pikes Peak race for three consecutive years, but this year two of their newly engineered MiEV Evolution III cars were entered. Mitsubishi's new electric racecars remarkably took first and second place in the electric modified class as well as second and third place in the overall competition standings, which included gasoline-driven vehicles.

Mitsubishi has been using PowerFLOW for aerodynamics and wind noise simulations for vehicle development since 2005. The winning electric vehicle, the MiEV Evolution III, leveraged PowerFLOW's aerodynamics capabilities coupled with optimization techniques to formulate a design that produced the highest amount of downforce from a range of engineering design options.

Engineers at Mitsubishi were able to validate PowerFLOW with wind tunnel testing and simulated engineering concepts using PowerFLOW to optimize design parameters. "We found that our PowerFLOW results matched well to the wind tunnel tests, and had confidence to use Exa simulations for the vehicle's canard, front and rear wing optimization before the physical testing," remarked Mr. Masahiro Yoshida, Expert at Mitsubishi's Aerodynamic Engineering Development Department. "We set an extremely difficult aerodynamic performance goal for this car, which was previously unreachable, but by using PowerFLOW, was finally achieved."

The Mitsubishi team is extremely satisfied with the race results. "We were pleased with drivers Greg Tracy and Hiroshi Masuoka for dominating the race with a winning time that was over 30 seconds faster than the previous record — leaving the next electric car in a distant third place," said Mr. Yoshida. "We plan to leverage the engineering knowledge gained from this project to maximize aerodynamic engineering and development of our mass production vehicles."

About Exa Corporation

Exa Corporation develops, sells and supports simulation software and services to enhance product performance, reduce product development costs and improve the efficiency of design and engineering processes. Our simulation solutions enable our customers to gain crucial insights about design performance early in the design cycle, thus reducing the likelihood of expensive redesigns and late-stage engineering changes. As a result, our customers realize significant cost savings and fundamental improvements in their engineering development process. Our products include, PowerFLOW^®, PowerDELTA^®with PowerCLAY^®, PowerVIZ^®, PowerSPECTRUM^®, PowerACOUSTICS^®, PowerINSIGHT^®, PowerCOOL^® and PowerTHERM^® along with professional engineering consulting services. A partial customer list includes: BMW, Ford, Hyundai, Jaguar Land Rover, Kenworth, MAN, Nissan, Peterbilt, Renault, Scania, Toyota, Volkswagen, and Volvo Trucks.

Founded in 1991, the company is headquartered at 55 Network Drive, Burlington, MA, USA 01803. Tel: 1.781.564.0200; Fax: 1.781.564.0299; Email: info@exa.com; URL: www.exa.com; Nasdaq:EXA

Exa, PowerFLOW, PowerCLAY, PowerTHERM, PowerCOOL, PowerSPECTRUM, PowerDELTA, PowerVIZ, PowerACOUSTICS and PowerINSIGHT are registered trademarks of Exa Corporation.

The photo is also available via AP PhotoExpress.