Mitsubishi Pajero to return in 2027 with hybrid power – report
The return of the Mitsubishi Pajero 4WD could be on the horizon, according to a Japanese report.
A new report out of Japan claims the Mitsubishi Pajero four-wheel-drive is poised to make a comeback in 2027 with plug-in hybrid power.
According to Japanese magazine Best Car, Mitsubishi has commenced development of a new, full-size Pajero "with the aim of rolling off the [production] line in 2027".
Few details of the new Pajero have been published by the magazine on its website, however it has claimed it will be a plug-in hybrid.
Production of the Pajero concluded production in 2021 after 40 years and more than 3.3 million sales, and the name lives on through the smaller, Triton ute-based Pajero Sport.
It is not clear if the Mitsubishi Pajero revival would share its underpinnings with the next-generation Nissan Patrol – as part of the alliance between the Japanese car makers, as well as French marque Renault – to reduce costs.
Mitsubishi executives in Japan have ruled out a new Pajero taking the form of a rebadged Patrol, but have left the door open to sharing "systems and components" from within the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance.
Plug-in hybrid power has not been discussed publicly for the new Nissan Patrol – or its twin-turbocharged V6 engine – but Mitsubishi is a specialist in this area.
Mitsubishi Australia boss Shaun Westcott expressed interest in a new Pajero in an interview with Drive late last year.
"Anything that carries the name Pajero needs to be really distinctive and a really great vehicle," he said.
"Our global platforms – and some of them are under shrouds – [that] lineup over the next few years includes some large SUVs in there," Mr Westcott told Drive, referencing a recent media presentation by Mitsubishi in Japan teasing multiple new large SUVs.
"What their nameplates will be, I can't tell you, but there is definitely plans for us to have large SUVs in the future.
"Whether that's a Pajero Sport or whether it's a Pajero, I can't say as we sit here now, other than to say that we do believe Australia – and we all know the Australian market very well, we all live here – the demand for large SUVs is still pretty strong in this country."