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Old 5th December 2015, 18:59   #16
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Re: End of the road for the Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero?

Having owned a 2009 Montero and having covered around 50,000 kms in the last two and a half years of ownership, I have to agree with the comments above of bad management ruining a good company with great products. Reminds me of Fiat in India say 10 years ago.

The Montero and the Pajero are truly fantastic vehicles. While they may not be eternal like the Land Cruisers, they do have an almost invincible and 'go on forever' characteristic about them. Pity.

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Old 5th December 2015, 21:36   #17
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Re: End of the road for the Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero?

Mitsubishi is a highly diversified group - from pens to planes via equipment, finance, trading, real estate,.....beer, etc.
Automobile business is perhaps lower in their priorities and I feel there are could be reasons other than the product success itself.
Having said that and considering it is a season of mini-SUVs in India, how about reviving Pajero-mini and bringing to India?
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Old 5th December 2015, 21:57   #18
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Re: End of the road for the Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero?

Quote:
Growing up in the 90s, I was a big fan of Mitsubishi cars. Lancer was considered a premium sedan, a lot of Bollywood celebrities owned Pajeros. In my young mind, Mitsubishi was more premium than Honda and Toyota. It really makes me sad.
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Originally Posted by cijo View Post
He could at least search in Craigslist for Mitsubishi before making such a statement . I don't remember the last time I saw a new Mitsubishi in streets .

I owned a 1999 Mitsubishi Mirage in the US (same body as the older Lancer that we had here in India). When I was about to return, I made the mistake of waiting till the very end to sell the car and was desperate to get rid of it in the last two days. After posting on Craigslist, I started calling used car dealers and two of them told me in a straight, matter-of-fact way that they are willing to buy anything except for a Mitsubishi. This was in 2008. When I finally managed to sell it for a pittance is when I realized why I was able to buy such a mechanically sound car for a 1000$ in the first place.
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Old 6th December 2015, 07:06   #19
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Re: End of the road for the Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero?

I don't buy the "no money for R&D" logic . This is Mitsubishi, one of the largest group of autonomous multinational companies covering a stupendous range of businesses. The automotive industry isn't even their primary business and never has been as far as i can tell. They could shut the whole automotive division down and the brand will still survive.

The only reason they are ending these models is because they are ready with their EV and hybrid lineups for the future. The upcoming Euro and American emission/economy norms is going to crush conventional car manufacturers who will be spending more money to meet the nearly unrealistic targets which will further reflect in the pricing of the modern cars as they will soon arrive at the price range of the EVs and hybrids. They do not want to spend a time developing ICE cars which is why they are seeking partnership with Nissan/Renault and others to form a JV for future ICE passenger cars. The JV didn't work out and hence they're ending the models.

Its not that they are losing money, if the loss was affecting their large company significantly then they wouldn't have taken their Pikes Peak car 3 years in a row and then put their Outlander PHEV in a few rally races around the world like they did this year.
The Pikes Peak EVOs were obviously being used to test the powertrain development for their future models.

Its not long before every manufacturer dumps the ICE when its no longer economically feasible to develop to the needs of the ever growing market's unrealistic expectations. Whichever manufacturer hasn't already started working on the EV/Hybrid division already will be the one to suffer in the future.

I've saved this screenshot for a year now. Randy Pobst got to test ride the Electric Evo III on a race track and that is what he had to say.
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Last edited by Nithesh_M : 6th December 2015 at 07:13.
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Old 7th December 2015, 11:16   #20
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Re: End of the road for the Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero?

Aghast.
The only word.
Being a proud owner of a Mitsubishi Pajero GLX clocked over 2 lac trouble free kms with power for another 2 lacs atleast, its a pity the Pajero is being cremated!
Can there be an uprising to ensure the fools see the point and in fact consider focussing solely on the models rather than killing them!?

Every day, my Gangsta proves itself with a new capability, and the story goes on!
Mitsubishi...wake up!!!
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Old 7th December 2015, 12:04   #21
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Re: End of the road for the Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero?

As a Mitsubishi Motors enthusiast and a proud Mitsubishi Lancer owner, this news saddens me. We have a Lancer and a Pajero SFX in our family. First shock I got was when Mitsubishi Motors withdrew from the legendary Dakar rally (which was their playground). That time the news said Mitsubishi Motors is now focusing on EV cars and also getting restructured financially. The Lancer EVO has already faced the axe and now its the turn of the mighty Pajero and Montero.

I sincerely hope for Mitsubishi Motors to bounce back with their EV cars with pioneering examples as they did with the Lancer and Pajero. Till that I will cling to my Lancer as long as I can.
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Old 9th December 2015, 05:13   #22
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Re: End of the road for the Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero?

For the word SUV, the first thing comes to my mind was old Pajero - SFX. In US market also, the Montero is out of production few years back and looks like their Market is showing a huge dip compared to 2010 in the entire range. Last month when I was considering for a new car, Montero was first in the list since I was unaware it went out of production (Even I tried to get a used one, not lucky enough to find a good one). Ladder frame SUVs are an endangered species in mid sizes SUV market may be due to high cost and lots of manufacturer like Ford - Explorer, Honda - Pilot, Nissan - Pathfinder moved to Monocoque build with recent upgrades. May be Mitsubishi doesn't want to go with that step for Montero

During 2010 Mitsubishi Outlander was a good selling model for Mitsubishi among the compact SUVs in US. And now if you see their Website in US, they don't have much options either in Car or SUV and are giving 0 - 0.9% APR for these cars and not many takers last month. Looks like some serious trouble for Mitsubishi in Passenger segment. For India market, still they have Pajero Sport atleast to keep the Legacy even it doesnt have the look of Pajero SFX
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Old 9th December 2015, 07:13   #23
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Re: End of the road for the Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero?

Quote:
Originally Posted by arunrajk81 View Post
Ladder frame SUVs are an endangered species in mid sizes SUV market may be due to high cost and lots of manufacturer like Ford - Explorer, Honda - Pilot, Nissan - Pathfinder moved to Monocoque build with recent upgrades. May be Mitsubishi doesn't want to go with that step for Montero
The current gen Mitsubishi Montero/Pajero/Shogun is indeed a monocoque, but still retains its offroading abilities.

Quote:
Mitsubishi’s Pajero has never lacked for offroad credibility, even when it moved from full-frame chassis to a monocoque with the NM platform, back in 2000.
Reference
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Old 10th December 2015, 20:46   #24
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Re: End of the road for the Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero?

As Dumb as they come.

In India at least Pajero is a bigger brand than Mitsubishi itself as far as Automobiles go. People know Pajero but would have a delayed recall on the company making it. And they go ahead and kill Pajero?

Somehow it is not clear if they are implying the Pajero type of Platforms or Pajero, Montero and Pajero Sport all together as a package being killed?
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Old 10th December 2015, 22:06   #25
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Re: End of the road for the Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero?

Some companies never get it right. Instead of improving their popular product and cashing on it's name they kill it. Now I know why they joined hands with HM in India. Both have 'killing' attitude- killing themselves, that is.
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Old 10th December 2015, 22:14   #26
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Re: End of the road for the Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero?

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Originally Posted by Nithesh_M View Post
I don't buy the "no money for R&D" logic
But that doesn't explain killing existing proven brands. Other automakers are certainly investing in hybrid or electric drive train technology. Those are eventually making into existing offerings and some new ones into their stable.

Just to quote few examples: Cayenne Hybrid , Highlander Hybrid.
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Old 11th December 2015, 10:47   #27
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Re: End of the road for the Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero?

Man, the folks at Mitsubishi must be smoking some really exotic stuff.

When I think of Mitsubishi, I associate it with Pajero and Evo and those are the only two car's that they are known for and killing them just doesn't make sense.
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Old 11th December 2015, 16:14   #28
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Re: End of the road for the Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero?

i wonder who their product and strategy team are and what are they thinking.
whenever you think they have done it all, they come up with something even more absurd.


PS: i own a Cedia sport (into its 7th year of ownership, 1.28 lac kms). great product but..

Last edited by maven : 11th December 2015 at 16:16.
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Old 13th December 2015, 16:08   #29
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Re: End of the road for the Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Thilak29 View Post
But that doesn't explain killing existing proven brands. Other automakers are certainly investing in hybrid or electric drive train technology. Those are eventually making into existing offerings and some new ones into their stable.

Just to quote few examples: Cayenne Hybrid , Highlander Hybrid.
And Mitsubishi is doing just that. The Outlander PHEV, the i-MiEV etc. If they aren't going to make conventional IC engine vehicles then what's the point of milking the legendary names like Pajero and Evolution with unproven models? When the EVs and Hybrids replace current vehicles, and EV motorsports takes centre stage then it will be wise to bring those names back with products that can dominate the motorsport scenes just like the Pajero did at Dakar and the Evos did in WRC.

Mitsu is starting fresh. Just like how people slowly moved from steam to ICE in the early 1900s, we're in the same stage of moving towards EV in the early 2000s.
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Old 21st April 2018, 14:27   #30
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Re: End of the road for the Mitsubishi Pajero / Montero?

Mitsubishi has revealed ‘Pajero final edition’ for European market before the nameplate gets discontinued. These are limited to 1000 units. Pajero brand will be discontinued due to slow sales and stricter emission norms.

Source: Autocar India
https://www.autocarindia.com/car-new...evealed-408054

Last edited by ShubhamGhute : 21st April 2018 at 14:43.
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