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      Mitsubishi discontinues outdated Lancer and Pajero SFX in Indian auto market

      CarTrade Editorial Team

      CarTrade Editorial Team

      Mitsubishi, the globally renowned multinational automotive manufacturer, is a name synonymous with powerful Sports Utility Vehicles (SUV) and visually enticing sedans in the Indian auto market. The Japanese car maker who has a Joint Venture (JV) partnership with Hindustan Motors has announced to discontinue production of its much popular Lancer saloon and pick-of-the segment Pajero SFX SUV on domestic turf.

       

      Mitsubishi discontinues outdated Lancer and Pajero SFX in Indian auto market
      Mitsubishi discontinues outdated Lancer and Pajero SFX in Indian auto market
       

      The move may come as a shocking surprise for many Indian car aficionados, for whom the Lancer saloon and Pajero SFX had been childhood heroes. The Lancer sedan's failure was inevitable due to the Japanese car maker's ineptitude of introducing newer range of the car in country. The premium sedan has several state-of-the-art and world renowned upgrades like Lancer Evolution, which never saw the Indian daylight, while Hindustan Motors - Mitsubishi JV partnership kept the ageing model in the domestic market. The obsolete model ensured the brand Lancer's demise in the country, besides steering a loss of interest among domestic lovers of the luxury saloon.

      The phasing out of well built and ultra powerful Pajero SFX was more of a logical option for the Indo-Japanese alliance. Hindustan Motors – Mitsubishi JV introduced the Pajero Sport SUV in Indian auto market during the first quarter of 2012 and since then, top industry boffins anticipated that the elder sibling Pajero SFX was going to be taken off the market. Evidently, with such an intense competition including the likes of Ford Endeavour, Toyota Fortuner, Hyundai Santa Fe, freshly launched Mahindra – SsangYong Rexton and little sibling Pajero Sport, the future appeared extremely meek for Mitsubishi Pajero SFX. A big reason contributing to failure of Pajero SFX in Indian market was the premium SUV's obsolete interior and exterior appearance and design.

      Interestingly, some Indian car lovers are definitely going to miss the premium SUV Pajero SFX and luxury saloon Lancer, but will surely also wait for their replacements with crossed fingers. Top industry experts believe that the Japanese auto maker may be following in footsteps of Hyundai Motors, who replenished their declining popularity in Indian portfolio by introducing the much influential Fluidic series.

      Mitsubishi | Pajero | Mitsubishi Pajero