Mitsubishi Not So Sure About Building An All-New Pajero

Mitsubishi has been updating their flagship SUV, the Pajero, over the years, but the vehicle remains largely the same since 2006 when the fourth generation was introduced.

Things could, however, change, as the Japanese automaker, which is now rolling with Renault-Nissan, is contemplating on building a successor.

According to Autocar, COO Trevor Mann commented that no decision has been taken yet. The Mitsubishi exec says the brand “has a passion” to make a new Pajero, but their position is “not defined” yet, and the emissions regulations play a major role in their decision.

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“It’s something that our engineers really want to do, but we’ve got to make sure we have the right business case, and that segment is naturally shrinking due to emissions regulations”, said Mann. “We need to make sure that when we do something, we do it properly, and it’s future-proofed.”

With the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance sharing platforms between brands, the next Pajero could be very different than the one that’s currently on sale.

Nissan, for one, has a similar product on sale, the Patrol, which has a slightly larger footprint than the Pajero. The sixth-generation SUV has been around since 2010, so it’s only natural to say that they, too, are considering a successor.

So, could the two share their underpinnings in order to keep production costs as low as possible? That would make sense from a financial point of view, provided of course that the Pajero’s replacement gets the green light.