2025 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport Facelift Debuts in Thailand

The new 2025 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport facelift debuts in Thailand as a sporty 4x4 SUV that we’ll never get.

It’s been a few years since Mitsubishi Motors Malaysia (MMM) offered the Pajero Sport for our local market, with the last entrant being the facelifted second-gen model that debuted back in 2016. In other ASEAN markets like Thailand, however, this sporty 4x4 SUV is alive and thriving, and the Northern Kingdom recently debuted the facelifted third-gen Pajero Sport.

The third-gen Pajero Sport facelift gains some minor design tweaks on the exterior.

The facelifted Pajero Sport gains a slew of minor design touches, including a redesigned front grille and a sportier lower bumper garnish at the front. Both its headlights and front fog lamps, however, remain unchanged from the prior model.

Also new here is the revised rear bumper, which gains a black-hued tailgate trim to go with the black mirror caps and door handles. The facelifted 4x4 SUV also comes with new alloy wheels, which are finished in gloss black for the top-spec Elite Edition variant.

The facelifted treatment also sees the Pajero Sport gains some minor cabin equipment upgrades.

Similarly, the facelifted Pajero Sport cabin gets a minor update, now featuring a more modern-looking three-spoke steering wheel instead of the ‘ancient’ four-spoke ones. Besides the quilted leather upholstery for the seats and a dedicated 12.1-inch fold-down screen for the rear passengers, the 8-inch digital instrument cluster also gets an updated graphic, while the rest of the cabin remains the same as the pre-facelift model.

The facelifted Pajero Sport gets a new 4N16 turbodiesel engine derived from the next-gen Triton.

On the powertrain front, the facelifted Pajero Sports gets an updated mill under its hood, which comes in the form of the new 2.4-litre 4-cyl 4N16 turbodiesel engine derived from the new Triton pick-up truck, producing 181 HP (135 kW) and 430 NM. However, this is not the same twin-turbocharged unit used on the top-spec Triton, with said mill capable of delivering up to 201 HP (150 kW) and 470 NM.

The 2025 Mitsubishi Pajero Sport facelift is now open for booking in the Thai market, with said 4x4 SUV model set to make its way to other right-hand-drive (RHD) markets like Australia and Indonesia.

This facelift treatment is the second one given to the third-gen Pajero Sport, with the first one given back in 2019—four years after its initial global debut in 2015. With this current-gen model recently getting a facelift, it remains unclear when the next-gen model will be launched.

This facelifted second-gen Pajero Sport is the last version of this 4x4 SUV we get here in Malaysia.

Closer to home, MMM has yet to offer the Pajero Sport since the discontinuation of the facelifted second-gen model back in 2016. Previously famous amongst government officials and folks in East Malaysia, demands for proper 4x4 midsize SUVs have been quite poor in Malaysia, with the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport and Isuzu MU-X having been discontinued for years already.

With the exception of other upmarket options like the Ford Everest, the Toyota Fortuner now remains the sole Japanese representative in this dying vehicle segment.