A few years back, Mitsubishi Motors got in hot water due to discrepancies between declared and actual fuel consumption figures. Mitsubishi partner Nissan discovered these discrepancies in early 2016, and not surprising anyone, Nissan eventually acquired a controlling stake in Mitsubishi Motors.
Those looking at the glass half full are happy to see Mitsubishi still around, but the more pragmatic among us are well aware that Mitsubishi is a shadow of its former self. The Outlander for the US market is pretty much a Rogue with different bodywork. It gets even worse in Europe, where the Renault Captur-based ASX and Renault Clio-based Colt are best described as badge engineering at its laziest.
The aggressive cost-cutting measures won't end here, though. Now a part of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, Mitsubishi Motors is rumored to revive the Pajero in 2027 as an upmarket Outlander with a plug-in hybrid setup. Japanese publication Best Car cites a source familiar with the automaker's inner workings for this information, and given the aforementioned examples of badge engineering and platform sharing, it wouldn't come as a surprise to see the Pajero come back as a luxury crossover.
Before going any further, we must remember that five distinct models bear this nameplate. The Pajero is a full-size SUV with off-road chops, the Pajero Sport is a midsizer with pickup truck underpinnings, the Pajero iO is a small SUV with Pininfarina styling, the Pajero Junior is a mini SUV based on the Minica kei car, and the kei-sized Pajero Mini is an even smaller take on the Pajero Junior. The only Pajero model still in production today is the Pajero Sport.
Turning our attention back to Best Car's report on the 2027 Mitsubishi Pajero, the Japanese publication claims that Mitsubishi will gift it with luxuries and off-road capability that would make the Range Rover blush in awe. That hardly holds water, more so because nobody in the market for a Range Rover would ever consider a Mitsubishi SUV.
Photo: Mitsubishi
The unnamed source further claims that Mitsubishi originally considered the L200 mid-size pickup truck's platform, but this plan was abandoned due to inadequate driving dynamics and ride comfort. Had Mitsubishi looked at the Chevrolet Silverado 1500-based Cadillac Escalade from GM and the Ford F-150-based Lincoln Navigator, maybe the Japanese automaker would've continued developing the alleged crossover on the pickup truck's platform.
As for the elephant in the room, that would be the Y63-series 2025 Nissan Patrol. Think of it as the Armada's sibling for global markets. Both the 2025 model year Armada and luxury-oriented Infiniti QX80 are body-on-frame SUVs with twin-turbo V6 muscle. The big question is, why didn't Mitsubishi consider the Y63 platform and force-fed sixer for the next generation of the Pajero?
Best Car doesn't have an answer to that, and asking Mitsubishi's public relations department about it would result in the industry-standard reply of "We don't comment on future products." If the Pajero does come back as a luxury crossover on the Renault-Nissan Alliance's CMF-C/D platform, that would certainly upset body-on-frame purists.
On the other hand, so what? Ford is selling tons of Bronco Sport crossovers despite its Escape underpinnings. Even the Jeep brand is moving quite a few unibodies in its home market, with Jeep's biggest sellers in the US being the unibody Grand Cherokee and the body-on-frame Wrangler.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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