Next Mitsubishi Pajero Sport coming in 2025

The next-generation Mitsubishi Pajero Sport is due to be unleashed by 2025, roughly a year after the all-new 2024 Mitsubishi Triton ute on which it’s based, and it will be a much tougher rival for popular seven-seat off-road SUVs like the new Ford Everest and aged Toyota Prado, which will itself be renewed next year.

Like the new Triton, which will be unveiled within months ahead of its Australian release early next year, the 2025 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport will brandish a bolder, squarer new look as well as being bigger in all directions thanks to a new ladder-frame platform with a longer wheelbase and wider wheel tracks.

Visually, it’s expected to once again share the new Triton’s front-end design from the A-pillar forward, including its headlights and grille but not its bumper design, which may borrow styling elements from the ultra-modern Outlander as these unofficial renders from DigiMods Design suggest.

Featuring a large, square grille similar to the new-look Mitsubishi Triton’s, along with a reworking of the ute’s slim-line head light clusters, the design stays true to Mitsubishi’s angular styling language.

Throw in heavily chiselled body sides, stylised side steps, large alloy wheels and an all-new (and hopefully less polarising) rear-end design, the new Pajero Sport should deliver road presence to match the new Everest – but don’t expect a V6 diesel like the Ford’s.

Instead, again like the next Triton, the 2025 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport appears increasingly likely to be another all-diesel, all-four-cylinder affair, sharing its engine, transmission and 4x4 driveline with the popular pick-up.

Triton fans can expect performance increases over the current model’s aging 2.4-litre turbo-diesel, and a corresponding lift in towing capacity to match the 3500kg class standard, but it’s not yet clear how Mitsubishi will achieve this.

It was previously thought the Japanese brand’s trademark plug-in hybrid tech would be leveraged to deliver more power and torque for models including the new Triton (and by extension its Pajero Sport wagon twin), or at least the flagship Ralliart version.

But when Mitsubishi revealed its latest five-year product plan earlier this month, conspicuous by its absence was any mention of electrification for either the next Triton or Pajero Sport.

Mitsubishi did confirm it will produced an all-electric ute by 2028, dubbed BEV Pickup and apparently distinct from the Triton, but at this stage everything suggests both the new ute and its seven-seat wagon sibling will continue to be powered exclusively by turbo-diesel engines.

Mitsubishi may upgrade its current 2.4-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel engine (133kW/430Nm), but whether it can achieve the 150kW/500Nm outputs it would need to stay competitive in the large SUV segment without the addition of a costly twin-turbo set-up remains unclear.

The large SUV segment has been much more competitive so far in 2023 as the evergreen Prado struggles to hold on to its sales lead – something it managed effortlessly in past years.

The current Pajero Sport has been around since 2015 and it continues to be a strong seller Australia primarily due to its affordable pricing, which is expected to change when the new model arrives with more technology.

Expect to see more advanced autonomous driving systems operated via more cameras and sensors, while bigger and more numerous digital screens will be fitted inside a more premium interior with more passenger and cargo space.

Mitsubishi has previously stated the new Pajero Sport will be more ‘Pajero’ and less Triton than the current version and it plans to increase the number of markets in which it competes – especially since the brand’s long-running Pajero flagship SUV has now been axed.

There’s also scope for Nissan to capitalise on Mitsubishi’s development of both the next Triton and Navara. The latter will be released by 2025 and it’s expected to spawn a new-generation Nissan X-Terra, which could finally be sold in Australia.

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