Mitsubishi just pulled back the wraps on a brand-new Pajero. The latest version of the brand’s flagship SUV looks great, and the specs (on paper) suggest a tough truck ready to tackle all kinds of terrain.
You've got a body-on-frame SUV with a smart four-wheel-drive setup paired with the automaker's excellent Super All-Wheel Control system. There's a double-wishbone suspension up front, a solid axle in the back, and a locking differential in the center.
The bones of a new solid off-roader are there. Along with the brand's heritage appeal, this has Mitsubishi fans—myself included—very, very excited.
But the initial word is that the new Pajero, which we call Montero, might not arrive in the US at all. That would be a huge mistake on Mitsubishi's part.
Off-roaders, soft-roaders, and even vehicles doing off-road cosplay are big business right now in the US. Every automaker wants some sort of off-road-capable machine in its lineup. While a handful have had such machines on sale for years, others are scrambling to build one of their own.
Mitsubishi has one ready to go, and it has already baked-in historical appeal.
But the initial word is that the new Pajero, which we call Montero, might not arrive in the US at all. That would be a huge mistake on Mitsubishi's part.
The Mitsubishi Montero has long been an off-road legend. This is the King of Dakar, we're talking about. Mitsubishi entered the Dakar Rally in 1983, first won it in 1985, and went on to take the overall crown 12 times. There's a stretch in there where a Montero took home the top spot seven times in a row.
That's part of the reason I fell in love with the Montero. It's a tough truck that somehow always seemed like an underdog compared to rivals from Toyota and Land Rover. Yet the humble Montero can go anywhere those trucks can, and does so effortlessly. My first-gen 1991 Montero remains one of the best vehicles I've ever owned, and it was always happiest when I was flinging it up a fire road or scrambling over rocky climbs.
I'm not alone.
The Montero community remains one of the greatest automotive groups I've ever been a part of. There's a love of the vehicle that turns into support and admiration for anyone using their machine as intended. The new Montero (I will call it the Pajero as a means of manifesting its US return) can do the same and help bring Mitsubishi some much-needed cred here in the States.
And Mitsubishi desperately needs something like that.
Look at the brand's current lineup. The Outlander, Outlander Sport, Eclipse Cross, and Outlander PHEV are perfectly fine vehicles, but none of them gives enthusiasts a real reason to get excited about the three-diamond badge. The Montero could change that overnight.
Mitsubishi doesn't need to sell hundreds of thousands of them every year. It doesn't even need to become America's next best-selling SUV. It needs a halo product—something that gets people talking about Mitsubishi again, gets enthusiasts into dealerships, and gives the rest of the lineup some personality.
Jeep has the Wrangler. Ford has the Bronco. Toyota has the 4Runner and Land Cruiser. Even automakers that historically haven't been associated with off-roading are scrambling to add rugged-looking, adventure-focused vehicles to their lineups.
The obvious counterargument is that Mitsubishi simply doesn't sell enough vehicles in America to justify the cost of bringing a completely new SUV here. And that's fair. Mitsubishi isn't Toyota, Ford, or Jeep. It doesn't have the volume to spend billions developing and certifying products just to see what sticks.
But that's also exactly why the Montero makes sense.
Mitsubishi doesn't need to sell hundreds of thousands of them every year. It doesn't even need to become America's next best-selling SUV.
Of course, a few things need to go right before that (theoretically) happens. The diesel engine is simply a non-starter. Mitsubishi can borrow Nissan's 3.8-liter V6, which delivers a solid 310 horsepower and 281 pound-feet of torque. No turbos to mess with, and no EV bits either. Just an honest, solid V6, just like the Monteros of yore.
Mitsubishi would also need to certify the chassis, of course. That's expensive, but it could be a smart move; the new Montero is underpinned by a modified version of the automaker's Triton pickup truck. This opens the door for Mitsubishi to offer the Triton here as well. The number of vehicles on offer expands, as does the brand's overall appeal in the US market.
And Mitsubishi can’t try to turn the Montero into a $70,000 luxury SUV. It needs to be a genuinely capable body-on-frame SUV that regular enthusiasts can actually afford. If Mitsubishi can get a US-spec version into the $40,000-to-$50,000 range, suddenly it has something very interesting on its hands.
We don't need a dozen trim levels, either. Three would do just fine: a base model, a well-equipped on-road-focused version, and a more hardcore off-road Montero. You can call that last one the Ralliart, and then introduce an even more extreme Evolution a year later.
Hell, you can even mirror the Montero Evo with a future Dakar racer as a nod to the homologation legend that is the original Pajero Evo, and you will have people finding their way to Mitsubishi dealerships just to take a look.
If all goes well and Mitsubishi does bring the Montero Stateside, it could even open the door for a real Mitsubishi revival. Fingers crossed for a new Lancer Evo—but that’s a conversation for another day.
If all goes well and Mitsubishi does bring the Montero Stateside, it could even open the door for a real Mitsubishi revival.
Mitsubishi needs to give us this real-deal Montero first. No, it doesn't need to become America's best-selling off-road SUV. It doesn't even need to outsell the 4Runner or Wrangler. It just needs to be good enough to remind Americans why Mitsubishi used to matter to enthusiasts in the first place.
Give us the Montero we've been waiting for. There's never been a better time to bring it back—and do it properly.
