Mitsubishi plotting smaller Pajero to take on Toyota RAV4
The new Mitsubishi Pajero has yet to be revealed, but rumours of the nameplate’s expansion are already circulating.
Mitsubishi is preparing to revive the Pajero name this year, with a new body-on-frame SUV to reignite the badge which was last seen in 2021.
Up until 2021, the full-size Pajero was Mitsubishi’s off-road flagship, while the mechanically unrelated Pajero Sport – based on the Triton ute – sat below it, much in the same way that the full-size LandCruiser 300 Series is above the LandCruiser Prado 250 Series.
Though the Pajero is coming back, it will, effectively, be a replacement for the Pajero Sport, with Mitsubishi already confirming it’ll be underpinned by the same body-on-frame chassis as the Triton, and be built in Thailand alongside the ute – rather than in Japan like its predecessors.
However, there is set to be another Pajero-badged model coming, with Nikkei Asia reporting a ‘mid-sized’ SUV with the name will launch in Japan around late 2028 or 2029.
Claimed to be based on a dedicated monocoque platform but sharing parts with the Mitsubishi Outlander, it’ll reportedly do battle with the Toyota RAV4 and Mazda CX-5, both of which are five-seaters, unlike the Outlander which can be had with seven seats.
Mitsubishi first teased an expansion of the Pajero family in late May, saying it would become a “new brand” which embodies “Mitsubishi Motors-ness”.
At the time, this was overlooked, though the recent Nikkei Asia report gives weight to a 2024 report by Japanese publication Best Car Web.
The outlet – which has to be taken with a grain of salt – said the Pajero nameplate’s revival would centre around the same platform as the next-generation Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV.
It even went as far to speculate on its dimensions – reportedly 4900mm long, 1900mm wide and 1850mm tall, about the same as the most recent Pajero – but inaccurately claim that Mitsubishi had scrapped the idea of the new Pajero riding on Triton underpinnings, something which is about to come to fruition.
What we do know, thanks to an Automotive News report from June, is Mitsubishi is preparing a fifth-generation Outlander, which will likely go on sale in the US during the second half of 2028.
It too will run on a new platform, which will reportedly support an off-road focused variant with increased ground clearance and a revised all-wheel drive system, similar to the Outlander Trail Edition already on sale in the US.
This supports the latest Nikkei Asia report, which also says that the Outlander-related Pajero’s all-wheel drive system will be different to that employed by most of its competitors.
Time will tell as to what it looks like, though the new Triton-based Pajero is expected to adopt styling cues from the Destinator, a Toyota LandCruiser Prado-sized SUV for South-East Asia and some parts of Africa.
