Just 700 Final Editions will be made for their home market.
Before you panic, Japanese marque Mitsubishi has not just decided to kill the venerable Pajero locally. It’s just that in Japan, large SUVs like the Pajero simply do not have a place on the road, their position impeded upon by more luxurious offerings or even by contenders outside their immediate circle (see all-new Lexus LM). But the demise of the Pajero in Japan is something we need to sit up and pay attention to, for reasons that'll become clear as you read on.
The Pajero is an icon in the motoring industry, with the very first to carry the name launched in 1982, marrying off-road ability with car-like agility (more like what passed as car-like driving characteristics in the early 80s). 1991 saw the introduction of the second-generation Pajero and with it came the very first iteration of Mitsubishi’s Super Select 4WD system. Eight years later the third-generation Pajero arrived which, most notably, ditched the body-on-frame construction in favour of an integrated ladder frame for the first time, which proved to be such a successful recipe that in 2006, they heavily-revised the 3rd-gen to turn it into the 4th-gen that we know and love today.
But it wasn’t just the car-like driving experience that sold the Pajero. No, it was that its off-road credentials are beyond reproach. While Jeep gives some variants of its cars a ‘Trail Rated’ badge based on whether or not they can conquer some trail in the US, Mitsubishi chose to prove the mettle of the Pajero in the challenging and hirsute conditions of the Dakar Rally.
The Pajero entered the historic competition in 1983 and since then has managed no less than a dozen wins, with 7 of them coming back-to-back, cementing the Pajero’s reputation as a solid, reliable, and dependable off-roader that can handle the very worst you can throw at it without even so much as a huff.
The Pajero Final Edition that’s being offered in Japan will only be made in 700 iterations, each of them based on the flagship Pajero variant available. As such you get things like a black leather interior, electrically-adjustable front pews, a 7-inch touchscreen infotainment unit, a panoramic sunroof, black roof rails, a rear differential lock, and illuminated scuff plates replete with a running serial number of the Final Edition. Notably, every purchase of a Pajero Final Edition will be accompanied by a matching Citizen watch and special appliques, featuring the serial number of the car itself.
Power will be provided by the venerable 3.2-litre common rail turbodiesel engine, with a 5-speed automatic transmission and a Super Select 4WD system (in its latest guise), and it’ll be priced at ¥4,530,600 in its local market (or a touch under $58k).
What we’d like to clarify once again is that this is merely the discontinuation of the Pajero in the Japanese market, and does not affect other markets (like ours) where the Pajero is currently sold. This move also won’t affect the Pajero Sport which, in case you don’t already know, is based on the Mitsubishi Triton ute and built in Thailand. That said, the death of the Pajero in Japan is a likely signal that its position in the market is under serious threat, and could mean that it could meet the same fate in other markets in the future.
Do you have a Pajero story? If you do, we’d love to hear about it in the comments section below.
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