Mitsubishi Pajero to fight on

As it chief large off-road SUVs rivals in the Toyota Prado and Ford Everest continue to evolve, the Mitsubishi Pajero will soldier on in its current form despite dating back to 2000.

The Mitsubishi Pajero might lack the new engines, technology and luxury features its competitors are rolling out, but the seven-seat 4WD wagon still brings home the bacon for Mitsubishi, selling around 300 units per month.

That might be well under the 1100-odd monthly sales of the market-leading Prado, but despite being based on a monocoque platform that’s almost two decades old Mitsubishi is confident of keeping the ‘Paj’ going for several more years.

That’s the word from John Signoriello, Mitsubishi Motors Australia CEO, who told motoring.com.au that the current Pajero would not be phased out any time soon.

“I haven’t seen an end date [for Pajero]. So at this stage we’ll continue with what we’ve got,” he said.

Mitsubishi took the decision to become an SUV specialist several years ago and from 2019, when stocks of the Lancer small car are exhausted, it will have only one passenger model in its showrooms — the slow-selling Mirage micro-car.

But the importer hasn’t given up hope of a new-generation Pajero, which has been previewed by several concepts in the past, for example the 2013 Concept GC-PHEV  powered by a supercharged V6 hybrid powertrain.

“Do we want to see a Pajero replacement? Obviously yes, we’d love to see a new Pajero,” said Signoriello.

“The nameplate stands on its own. If the opportunity comes we’ll take it. It’s got the heritage and I would like to think and like to hope there’s a replacement at some time in the future,” he said.

While there’s no sign of a whiz-bang hybrid-powered Pajero replacement on the horizon, as we reported back in March 2018 Mitsubishi’s global chief Trevor Mann is intent on developing an all-new, high-tech Pajero.

If the Pajero does get a new lease on life it’s likely it will offer petrol-electric hybrid and diesel powertrains. There’s certainly more scope for such a vehicle given the Nissan-Renault group took control of Mitsubishi in 2016.

Signoriello noted there were platform-sharing possibilities with Nissan in future (the next-gen Mitsubishi Triton ute will share its architecture with the next Nissan Navara, for instance), but he wouldn’t be drawn on whether we’ll see a new Pajero based on the Nissan Patrol.

He cautioned that Australia was “not the only market” agitating for a new flagship SUV from Mitsubishi and that the situation is not without its challenges.

Chief among them is a viable business case given the lack of demand for a full-size off-road SUV in many markets and the high price of developing a new global model with the safety, technology and capability customers expect today.

“Our volume globally wouldn’t be the deciding point on whether we get a Pajero replacement and I can’t tell you what the biggest market is, but it all comes into the pie when decisions get made.”

The current 2018 Mitsubishi Pajero is powered by a 3.2-litre turbo-diesel (141kW/441Nm) and the three-model range is priced between $53,990 and $65,990, making it the brand’s most expensive model.

Until a new heavy-duty 4WD is forthcoming, the aging Pajero will continue to top a Mitsubishi SUV line-up that comprises revised 2019 ASX, Eclipse Cross and Outlander ranges, plus the Triton-based Pajero Sport.