Some cars leave a paper trail; the Mitsubishi Pajero left a name, a year — 1981 — and a place in Mitsubishi's list. What follows is what can be said with a source behind it.
The story
The Mitsubishi Pajero (三菱・パジェロ; Japanese: [pad͡ʑeɾo]; English: ; Spanish: [paˈxeɾo]) is a full-size SUV manufactured and marketed globally by Mitsubishi Motors since 1981. It is also known as the Mitsubishi Montero in North America, Spain, and Latin America, and the Mitsubishi Shogun in the United Kingdom. The Pajero, Montero, and Shogun names were used on other, mechanically unrelated models, such as a kei car with the Pajero Mini, mini SUVs with the Pajero Junior and Pajero iO/Pinin, and mid-size SUVs with the Triton-based Pajero/Montero/Shogun Sport. The Pajero was one of four Mitsubishi models (the others being the Triton, Pajero Sport, and the Pajero iO) that shared Mitsubishi's heavy-duty, off-road-oriented Super-Select four-wheel-drive system, rather than its light-duty Super All Wheel Control (S-AWC) all-wheel-drive system. The Montero was discontinued in North America in 2006.
Since its global discontinuation in 2021, the Pajero has sold more than 3.3 million units over its 40-year run. The name lived with the smaller Pajero Sport, which is based on the Triton/L200/Strada pickup. Despite the similarity in name, the Pajero Sport shares none of the original Pajero's underpinnings and is smaller in overall size. The Pajero went on hiatus from 2021 to 2026, with a five-year absence between the fourth and fifth generations. After a five-year hiatus, the nameplate returned with the fifth generation in late 2026, using a body-on-frame construction based on the sixth-generation Triton/L200, and it features the Super-Select 4WD and S-AWC systems.
Under the skin
The record carries the layout. The engine, output and weight have not yet reached the open record, and MotorJury does not guess at them.
Its place in the line
In the Mitsubishi line-up the Mitsubishi Pajero has a clear place: it replaced the Mitsubishi Jeep. The cars a buyer would have weighed it against include the DeLorean Motor Company DeLorean DMC-12, the Porsche 944, the Toyota Camry. Nearby in the Mitsubishi catalogue sit the Mitsubishi Lancer and the Mitsubishi 360.
Owning one today
MotorJury scores cars on the United States complaint and recall record, and the Mitsubishi Pajero has none: too old, too rare, or never sold there. Its value today is a collector's question, decided by provenance and condition rather than by a class average.