Pajero Returns: Nostalgia Remains, Rivals Have Changed

A return seven years late.

On September 2, Mitsubishi Motors globally unveiled the fifth-generation Pajero. This is the "Mountain Cat" returning to the global stage after seven years following its discontinuation in the Japanese market in 2019. But this time, the Pajero faces a market that is no longer the same as before.

 

 

For hardcore off-road enthusiasts, the Pajero is a name carrying the legend of 12 Dakar championships. At its peak, annual global sales once exceeded 170,000 units, especially in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Australia, and Western China markets, where the Pajero was almost synonymous with "reliable, durable".

However, as the global SUV trend shifted from hardcore off-road to urban SUVs, Pajero sales continued to shrink. By 2018, its annual sales in Japan dropped to 600 units. In 2019, Mitsubishi had to announce the discontinuation of the Pajero in the Japanese market, retaining only limited production overseas.

And the reason for the Pajero's exit is solely one: sales volumes could no longer support the huge R&D investment for an independent platform. It is reported that the fourth-generation Pajero adopted a unibody with an integrated trapezoidal frame, having an independent development system and production line. This system operated well during the peak of 170,000 annual sales, but when sales dropped to the thousand-unit level that year, developing a Pajero independently was no longer economically viable.

 

 

But discontinuation is not the end of the story. In 2026, Mitsubishi found the answer to revival. According to multiple media reports, the new car is no longer developed from scratch but mounts an SUV body on the Triton platform, with parts and supply chains highly shared. The significant reduction in R&D costs gave a model originally economically unviable renewed commercial feasibility. However, it is worth noting that this platform solution brought the Pajero back from the fourth-generation semi-monocoque body to the traditional non-load-bearing (with ladder frame) hardcore route — off-road performance is harder, but highway handling and ride comfort are likely not as good as the previous generation. The balance between sentiment and practicality has tilted again.

Not only that, Mitsubishi's ambition lies in expanding the Pajero from a single model to a complete series: In 2028, launch a mid-size Pajero sharing parts with the Outlander; in 2030, launch a mini Pajero targeting K-Car class. Facing difficulties competing directly with Toyota and Honda in the mainstream passenger car market, Mitsubishi chose to establish its own brand position in the "hardcore off-road" niche segment. Mitsubishi Motors predicts that by the 2030 fiscal year, global off-road SUV demand will reach 6.6 million units, an 80% growth over 10 years.

 

 

However, imagination is beautiful, but reality is stark. The off-road market today has completely changed: in overseas markets, the Pajero no longer faces only old rivals like Toyota and Ford, but also a group of new players entering from China. According to data from CAAM, in the first half of 2026, China's automobile export volume reached 4.059 million units, a 63% surge year-on-year; in 2025, Chinese brands' market share in Thailand reached 22%, Japanese brands fell below 70% for the first time, and the Tank brand's share in Thailand's non-load-bearing SUV market soared to 53.2%; in Russia and the Middle East, the Tank brand is also expanding rapidly. These Chinese off-road vehicles not only have hardcore strength, but also new weapons of electrification and intelligence — in 2025, the market share of independent brands in China's hardcore off-road market exceeded 70%. In the same year the Pajero was revived, the lineup of opponents was already completely different.

 

 

And focusing on the domestic market, the situation is even more complex. According to public information, Mitsubishi's whole vehicle business in China was discontinued in 2023. The new Pajero is unlikely to be imported through official channels; the only entry point is parallel import, with an estimated price of over 400,000 yuan. At this price point, the Tank 500 Hi4-T and Fang Cheng Bao Bao 5 have already equipped air suspension, lidar, and cooling/heating fridges. Domestic users' expectations for off-road vehicles are no longer just "can climb mountains and cross rivers", but "capable in both city and wild".

Meanwhile, Mitsubishi executives have also admitted outright: competing on price with Chinese enterprises is not feasible. This also means that even if the Pajero enters China, it will not take the cost-performance route, but must exist as a niche, high-premium "sentiment" identity. The only question is, how many people are still willing to pay for "sentiment" nowadays?

 

 

Usable, but not cutting-edge; pragmatic, but lacks surprises.

The Pajero has returned, using the most mature and cheapest technical solution Mitsubishi has on hand, facing a battlefield that is more crowded and more complex than seven years ago. Today, the global off-road market is still growing, but the definition of growth is being rewritten by Chinese brands. The Pajero will face a new game with changed rules, and whether it can continue its former glory, the market will soon provide the answer.