Could Mitsubishi revive the three-door Pajero?

WITH the all-new fifth-generation Pajero barely off the stage at its global reveal, speculation is already swirling over whether Mitsubishi will bring back the nameplate's long-lost three-door body style with some media reports suggesting it could return not as a simple shortened version of the flagship, but as a genuine performance-focused successor to the legendary Pajero Evolution.

The latest Pajero, unveiled in September, launches strictly as a five-door, ladder-frame SUV sharing its underpinnings with the Triton ute.

It is due in Australian showrooms by the first quarter of 2027, priced from $68,490 to $84,990 + ORC across GLS, Exceed and flagship GSR grades, with a 150kW/480Nm 2.4-litre turbo-diesel driving all four wheels through an eight-speed automatic.

But Mitsubishi itself has made clear the new Pajero is not a standalone model – it is the first in what the company is calling a broader Pajero series.

“In addition to the ‘Pajero’ to be launched this year as a model that embodies the DNA of Mitsubishi Motors-ness, we will introduce additional new models going forward as part of the Pajero series,” the company has stated, with reports pointing to as many as three distinct models eventually sitting under the badge including the current full-size 4WD, a smaller mid-size SUV pitched against the Toyota RAV4, and potentially a compact Toyota FJ Cruiser-style off-roader.

A three-door Pajero is not a new idea… it has been part of the line-up on and off since the very first generation launched in 1982 right through to the fourth-generation model that ended production in 2021.

The most storied version of all was the 1997 Pajero Evolution – a homologation special built off the back of Mitsubishi’s rally program and packing a 3.5-litre MIVEC V6, wide ‘over-fenders’ and independent four-wheel suspension that set it apart from the standard three-door.

That history is fuelling speculation, reportedly out of Japanese outlet BestCar among others, that any revived three-door should not simply be a chopped-down version of the new five-door but a dedicated high-performance variant that leans into the Evolution’s legacy.

Mitsubishi’s own 2026 Asia Cross Country Rally-spec Triton, built using the same 2.4-litre 4N16-series diesel engine as the new Pajero, is already extracting more than 160kW and 500Nm in competition tune – well above the road car’s 150kW/480Nm.

Speculation suggests a production three-door could target somewhere around 230PS (169kW) and over 500Nm, paired with a shorter, lighter body, dedicated suspension tuning, and uprated brakes to create a genuinely different character to the standard five-door.

There is also a competitive argument for going down that path…

Toyota’s Japanese-market Land Cruiser 250 is offered solely as a 4925mm five-door with a 2850mm wheelbase with no short-wheelbase version in its line-up leaving room for a three-door Pajero positioned as a sportier, more focused off-roader.

Such a model would sidestep a head-on fight with the Land Cruiser 250 and instead carve out space as something closer to a sports SUV, a segment the Land Cruiser currently does not contest.

Mitsubishi also has previous form when it comes to spinning the Pajero badge across multiple sizes exemplified in the kei-car Pajero Mini and compact Pajero Junior/Pajero iO both previously existing alongside the full-size model – meaning a revived three-door built purely on nostalgia would not necessarily fit the brand’s pattern of giving each size variant its own clear purpose.

In the absence of anything official, digital artists have been quick to fill the gap.

Widely shared renderings from various ‘artists’ imagine a three-door ‘shorty’ version of the new Pajero kicking up sand in a desert setting, posed alongside its three-door second-generation predecessor (also sold as the Shogun, Montero, and Galloper Super Exceed).

The renderings keep the new Pajero's front and rear styling largely intact, but features longer doors, a shortened wheelbase and reworked rear three-quarter panels and glass necessarily losing the third row in the process, resulting in a two-row cabin.

Infotainment would presumably carry over from the five-door, with a 12.3-inch screen on base grades and twin 14.3-inch displays higher up the range.

Separately, a smaller kei-car-sized Pajero is also reportedly in the pipeline, expected to use a turbocharged 660cc engine with optional all-wheel drive though that model is tipped to remain a Japan-only proposition given the kei-car segment's limited relevance elsewhere.

A compact, Toyota RAV4-rivalling Pajero built on a unibody platform is also tipped for 2028 or 2029, likely with hybrid power, with some speculating it could eventually extend to Europe and North America, though that remains far from certain.

At the Pajero’s world premiere, Mitsubishi President and COO Keisuke Kishiura reportedly positioned the new model as the first in a series, a flagship intended to lead not just future Pajero derivatives, but Mitsubishi’s broader model range.

That framing is doing plenty of the heavy lifting behind current speculation, since it signals the five-door launch model was never meant to be the whole story…

At the moment, there is no confirmation from Mitsubishi that a three-door Pajero is actually in development.

But, with the brand explicitly flagging more Pajero-badged models to come, and a genuine gap in the market for something positioned above the Suzuki Jimny and distinct from the Toyota Land Cruiser 250, it is easy to see why enthusiasts and ‘render artists’ are already getting ahead of themselves.