Mitsubishi just made its most significant move in the American market in years. The brand confirmed it is entering the U.S. midsize pickup segment with a Nissan-sourced truck and simultaneously reviving the Pajero nameplate as a new-generation ladder-frame SUV, a two-pronged push that puts Mitsubishi back in segments where enthusiasts actually have opinions.

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The new Pajero will ride on a ladder-frame chassis borrowed from the Mitsubishi Triton pickup, positioning it as a genuine body-on-frame off-roader rather than a crossover wearing heritage badging. Teasers show assertive front-end styling anchored by T-shaped headlights, a visual nod to the nameplate's aggressive character without leaning on retro pastiche.

The reveal is set for fall 2026. Notably, Mitsubishi isn't treating Pajero as a single model: the nameplate is being reborn as a series of multiple off-roaders, and the Montero name, the badge Pajero wore in North America and several other markets, is also confirmed to return alongside it. That suggests a tiered lineup rather than a one-and-done revival, which is a more serious commitment than a limited-run nostalgia play.

The Pajero's credibility isn't manufactured. The nameplate accumulated 12 Dakar Rally overall victories, a record that stood for decades and made the name synonymous with long-distance desert endurance. Bringing it back on a proper ladder-frame platform, rather than a unibody crossover, signals that Mitsubishi understands what the badge actually means to the off-road community.

The pickup side of the equation is built on the Nissan Frontier platform — the same Navara-derived architecture that underpins Nissan's current midsize truck. This is not a simple rebadging exercise, at least not in intent. Mitsubishi and Nissan are part of the same Alliance, which means platform sharing at this level is a structured engineering collaboration rather than a badge swap. The pickup is expected to be produced in North America, a key detail given that tariffs on imported vehicles have significantly pressured operating margins across the Alliance. Building domestically sidesteps that exposure and makes the truck viable at competitive price points against the Toyota Tacoma and Chevrolet Colorado.

Mitsubishi has not confirmed a specific on-sale date for the pickup, but the North American production plan suggests the timeline is more concrete than a concept-stage announcement.

The Mitsubishi Pajero has been around for a long time and goes by many names, but no matter what you call it, it's an overlanding bargain.

The midsize truck segment is already crowded and getting more so. Kia announced its own North American pickup pursuit earlier this year, also targeting the Tacoma and Ranger. Mitsubishi's entry is differentiated by the Alliance platform, which carries a proven reputation for durability and off-road capability in global markets where the Navara competes seriously.

For Pajero specifically, the ladder-frame commitment and the Triton platform connection mean the SUV arrives with genuine hardware to back up the rally heritage. The Land Cruiser is the nameplate Carscoops puts in Pajero's crosshairs, a telling competitive framing that sets expectations well above the mainstream SUV segment.

Mitsubishi's U.S. dealer network will need to scale to support both models, and that infrastructure question remains open. But the product itself, a rally-pedigreed ladder-frame SUV and a Frontier-based midsize truck built on home soil, gives the brand something it hasn't had in America for years: a reason for truck and off-road buyers to pay attention.

Sources: Mitsubishi, HotCars, Automotive News, Carscoops

Source: https://www.topspeed.com/mitsubishi-is-bringing-back-the-pajero-and-jumping-into-the-midsize-truck-war-with-a-nissan-sourced-pickup/