Hindustan Motors (HM) will launch an automatic variant of the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport. This development sourced from Mitsubishi Japan has been inked and will be launched in the next fiscal.
The Pajero Sport since its launch in March 2012 hasn’t received any updates, this would be the first addition in the last couple of years. It was introduced with a 2.5-litre oil burner churning out 177bhp and 400Nm of torque connected to a five-speed manual gearbox. The automatic gearbox will be a five speeder available in global markets with the SUV and will be launched by the end of the fiscal year.
This SUV, essentially, is the second generation Mitsubishi Challenger brought in to replace the second generation Pajero in India. While it’s a common practice to have two or three different names for global vehicles, the Pajero Sport has five different names worldwide. It is a cheaper alternative to the original Mitsubishi Pajero/Montero in most markets.
The Toyota Fortuner, Chevrolet Captiva, Ford Endeavour and the Hyundai Santa Fe, all have an automatic transmission and the addition of the automatic tranny will add to the Pajero Sport’s appeal.
HM have also spoken about the introduction of another model from Mitsubishi’s global line-up which will also be introduced by the end of the fiscal year. It is hard to guess which model would make it to India, but looking at past experiences it could be the current generation Lancer. To know more about HM’s future plans watch this space.
Source:Economic Times
