Will the Pajero nameplate return to Australia?

When Mitsubishi released its product rollout schedule for 2025 earlier this year, a number of large SUVs featured on the mid-term plan.

However, the vehicles remain undercover and are shrouded in mystery for the time being.

While one most certainly will be wearing a Pajero Sport nameplate, we asked Mitsubishi Motor Australia’s CEO and President Shaun Westcott for some clarity on whether we could see the return of the Pajero in the near future.

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“I'm going to quote our global president and CEO in which he said the Pajero is a very, very valuable nameplate to Mitsubishi, and anything that carries the name Pajero needs to be really distinctive and a really great vehicle,” Westcott said.

“Our global platform over the next few years includes some large SUVs in there. What their nameplates will be, I can’t tell you, but there are definitely plans for us to have large SUVs in the future, and whether that’s a Pajero Sport or whether that’s a Pajero I can’t say as we sit here now.

“Other than to say that we do believe, in Australia that the demand for large SUVs is still pretty strong in this country. Our job is to supply the market with what it needs.”

The Pajero spent 38 years on sale in Australia, building a reputation as a reliable off-roader. Production of the vehicle – then in its fourth generation – ended in July 2020. Whether it returns to Australia remains to be seen.

August 7, 2023: Next Mitsubishi Pajero may not meet ADRs but Pajero Sport will

“If we can introduce Pajero, that is a wonderful dream for us!”, Takao Kato, president and CEO of Mitsubishi Motors, told 4X4 Australia.

A large monocoque SUV features in Mitsubishi’s mid-term plan and it may very well use the Pajero nameplate.

However, Mitsubishi executives cautioned that the non-frame SUV in the plans may not pass Australian regulations without major modification, not unlike the recently-revealed XFC small SUV concept.

Should we make something like the Pajero Sport or more like the Pajero?

“For the non-frame SUV, at the moment we don’t have a plan to introduce it to Australia", Kato-san said.

He added that “it might be a bit difficult to fit into the Australian regulations”. Also in the plan is a ‘PPV’ – a pick-up based passenger vehicle – which is very much on the cards for us.

“If we make the PPV – that is a Pajero Sport-type vehicle – of course, I would like to bring this to Australia as a successor to the Pajero Sport. It depends on the product concept, but it could be also [called] Pajero. So right now, we are thinking about what kind of vehicle we should make with [the Triton’s] frame.

“Should we make something like the Pajero Sport or more like the Pajero? If we can achieve something like [Pajero] it would be really wonderful. It will require very high performance though, so I’m not sure if we can achieve that, or not”, added Kato-san, promising there’s more to come.

Our original story, below, continues unchanged.

April 2023: Pajero is ‘our brand’ and next-gen 4WD won’t be a Nissan Patrol clone

Koichi Namiki, general manager product strategy division expressed a strong personal interest in an all-new new Pajero at Mitsubishi Motor’s Tokyo headquarters.

“In my mind [new Pajero] is a high possibility! But, as a company, we have to decide on timings and priority very carefully, because as you know, the world is changing very fast. And electrification is one of the very important priorities,” Namiki-san told Wheels.

The fourth-gen Pajero’s death knell came in July 2020 when Mitsubishi announced the closure of its Sakahogi plant in March 2021, marking the end of the Pajero's 38-year tenure in our market.

A vehicle like Pajero? That's our brand

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The monocoque off-roader was rumoured for a reboot as a platform-share vehicle with the Nissan Pathfinder, but with the passionate way Namiki talks of Pajero, that was never a real possibility.

“The alliance, of course, gives us a lot of opportunity – one very good example is Outlander – as you may see that while we consider that's a big success in terms of vehicle quality, partially because we had access to Alliance technologies”, said Namiki.

"But a vehicle like Pajero? That's our brand. So if we do it, we want to control everything.”

Namiki did concede that, were one to be developed, a new Pajero would lean on systems, components, and parts from within the Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi Alliance, but that Mitsubishi would take lead on the project.

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And while it might seem odd to bring a fuel-guzzling off-roader into a world with ever-tightening emissions standards, Mitsubishi wouldn’t be the only one.

Toyota’s 300 Series Land Cruiser is experiencing huge demand and success following its 2021 market launch. The V8-powered Nissan Patrol experienced its biggest Australian sales month ever last year, and a next-gen Y63 is rumoured to debut in 2024.

Mitsubishi also continues to develop frame vehicles, with an all-new Triton gearing up for release next year to be followed by a related Pajero Sport in 2025. Both will be ready for electrification.

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Triton and Pajero Sport have the benefit of being successful across many markets in their respective segments, so it’s easy to see why Mitsubishi is investing in new models. The Pajero will be a more tricky product to push over the line, as Mitsubishi invests in BEV and Ralliart programs.

It’s far from being confirmed, but there’s a clear desire at Mitsubishi to bring Pajero back.