Japan bids farewell to Mitsubishi Pajero
Mitsubishi to stop domestic market sales of its long-running Pajero, but Australia set for continued supply – for nowAfter more than 37 years on sale, the almost-legendary Mitsubishi Pajero off-roader is soon to be withdrawn from its home market in Japan.
The car-maker plans to finish off with a flourish, building a maximum of 700 Final Edition models, all equipped with leather seats (powered at the front), sunroof and a special winter package.
Power is via the ubiquitous 140kW/441Nm 3.2-litre turbo-diesel engine driving all four wheels through Mitsubishi’s Super-Select 4WD II system with lockable rear differential.
Launched in Australia in January 1983 – less than a year after its original Japanese introduction – the Pajero started as a two-door, short-wheelbase off-roader that was quickly complemented in Australia by a long-wheelbase four-door in May 1984.
The Mitsubishi Pajero saw four generations and, in 1999, some significant structural changes including the adoption of monocoque construction and coil-spring, four-wheel independent suspension made it something of a standout in the volume-selling 4WD segment.
Its main competitors at the time employed ladder-frame chassis construction and used live-axle, leaf-spring suspension.
In Australia’s sub-$70K large SUV segment, the Pajero currently sits in ninth place on the sales ladder but has done a lot better in the past.
Its spiritual successor, the Mitsubishi Triton-based Pajero Sport wagon, is currently the third best-seller in the segment behind Toyota’s Prado and Kluger models, and outsells the Pajero at a ratio of around two sales to one.
Indicative of the changing nature of 4WD wagons, little more than a handful of today’s SUVs qualify as genuine off-roaders.
The Pajero’s dated fundamentals mitigate against it in terms of safety technology though and a thorough (and expensive) update would be needed to bring it into line with market expectations.
More than 70 overseas markets, including Australia, will continue to receive Pajeros for the “foreseeable future” after production for the Japanese market ceases in August this year.
Mitsubishi has sold more than 640,000 Pajeros in Japan since 1981.
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