Japanese magazine Best Car reports that the new Mitsubishi Pajero will be revealed on September 2, citing information obtained from dealers. The claim comes from a single report and remains uncorroborated: Mitsubishi has not confirmed a date, and its most recent official update, issued August 4, still says only that the SUV will make its world premiere this autumn.
What Mitsubishi has actually confirmed
Mitsubishi announced on May 29 that the new Pajero would have its world premiere in autumn 2026, built on a modified version of the Triton pickup's ladder frame with a model-specific cabin and bespoke front and rear suspension.
It followed up on August 4 with a technical update: alongside the ladder frame, the Pajero will use S-AWC — Super-All Wheel Control, Mitsubishi's integrated vehicle dynamics system — together with a suspension design aimed at keeping the wheels on the ground over rough terrain, and measures to reduce vibration on broken pavement.
That is the extent of it. Powertrain lineup, grade structure and pricing remain unannounced. Best Car offers its own reading on some of those points — it describes the car as diesel-powered and estimates pricing somewhere between the mid-¥5 million range and ¥7 million — but none of that has been confirmed by Mitsubishi.
Five years or seven, depending on where you stand
One detail worth untangling, because coverage varies: you will see the Pajero's absence described as both five years and seven.
Both are right. Mitsubishi's own May announcement notes that Japan-market production ended in 2019 — seven years ago — while the overseas version continued until 2021. For Japanese readers it is a seven-year gap; measured globally, it is closer to five.
Why rally followers are watching the reveal date
There is a second reason this date matters. When Team Mitsubishi Ralliart's crews returned from their Asia Cross-Country Rally win last week, team director Hiroshi Masuoka — who won the Dakar Rally outright in 2002 and 2003 in a Pajero — tied the victory directly to the nameplate's revival, and voiced a personal ambition of taking a third consecutive AXCR title with one.
Mitsubishi has announced no competition program for the new car. The road-car reveal is simply the next scheduled moment at which the company will be talking about the Pajero at length, which makes it the next opportunity for that question to come up — with no guarantee that it will.
For readers outside Japan, one practical note: a world premiere is not an on-sale date, and Mitsubishi has not said which markets get the car or when. That will be a separate announcement.