The 2027 Mitsubishi Pajero Is Here, But Will Americans Get A New Montero?
The Mitsubishi Pajero is back for the 2027 model year. The revived off-roader is returning to around 100 markets according to Mitsubishi, but not the United States (at least for now). If the name's not familiar, that's because Mitsubishi sold the Pajero as the Montero in the U.S., and it represented an age when Mitsubishi had a much larger presence in the States.
The latest and greatest Pajero features a bunch of hardware goodies that will likely excite off-roading enthusiasts. Notably, it rides on a conventional ladder frame, as opposed to a unibody design. Generally speaking, that design lends itself to more off-road flexibility and improved towing capabilities. It also features a lockable center differential controllable through its four drive modes: rear-wheel drive, full-time four-wheel drive, locked center differential, and locked center differential with low-range gears.
Mitsubishi is equipping the new Pajero with a 2.4-liter turbodiesel as standard, paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission. It's torque-y for sure, at 354 lb-ft, but a diesel-only powertrain lends further credence to the idea that it won't be coming to the U.S.
Big and brash, but not for the States
The design is what you would expect from a big full-size off-roader in 2027, meaning it's huge and boxy. It's not unlike the current Nissan Armada, which shares a lot with the international-market Nissan Patrol. And given Mitsubishi and Nissan's partnership and history of sharing parts and platforms (like we've seen on the new Nissan Rogue Hybrid), it's not outside the realm of possibility that the new Pajero has a little bit of Nissan DNA. For comparison though, the Pajero is about a foot shorter than the Armada.
The right-hand-drive, diesel-powered Pajero almost definitely won't come to the United States in its current form. The big luxurious interior and all the off-roading bells and whistles definitely lend themselves to an American audience, but without some major changes to the drivetrain (i.e., a gas engine), a new American Montero might be just a dream for now.
However, this new Pajero is part of a plan to revitalize the Mitsubishi brand, and juicing up the American Mitsubishi lineup with something as big and brash as a new Montero might be the jumpstart the automaker needs. It'll be a risky proposition, of course, given the tricky situation with tariffs and oil prices in 2026, but it might be the right move down the line if the situation stabilizes. One can only hope.