Success came relatively easy for 1980s SUVs, since the vehicles formerly known as off-roaders suddenly found themselves in a booming market segment. As the editor of Four Wheeler magazine noted at the time, SUVs had become popular because “they make good grocery-getters, they make good four-wheel drive recreational vehicles, they make good commuters.” But not all SUVs actually made good grocery-getters, and not all achieved sales success. Mitsubishi’s Montero was one such vehicle. In a decade that saw US annual SUV sales balloon from 42,000 to over 800,000, Mitsubishi was lucky to sell 10,000 Monteros per year.
In a way, Montero was a victim of circumstance. Its excellent off-road capabilities, for example, were at odds with SUVs’ emerging role as the new generation of family wagons. And its price advantage didn’t translate to much of a sales advantage because 1980s SUV buyers weren’t exactly a thrifty bunch. However, some of the onus for Montero’s underwhelming US performance was due to Mitsubishi simply misjudging the market – a problem that didn’t stop with the 1st generation vehicle. Montero was a good vehicle, just out of its element.
Mitsubishi was no stranger to off-roaders, having produced Jeeps for Japanese domestic consumption starting in 1953.
In the 1970s, Mitsubishi began aspiring to more homegrown 4x4s. This resulted in the Pajero II show car, debuting at the 1979 Tokyo Motor Show.
While the concept remained consistent, the vehicle’s appearance changed by 1982 when Mitsubishi put the Pajero in production (called the Montero or Shogun in many export markets). Pajero was initially offered as a short-wheelbase 2-door with fixed or removable top versions, and with diesel or gas engines.
Until the 1980s, 4x4s were often viewed as outcasts from the mainstream automotive marketplace. Jeeps, and a handful of competitors, appealed to a diverse group of buyers like ranchers, off-road enthusiasts, surfers, and other folks on the fringes of the consumer spectrum.
Gradually though, these vehicles began combining off-road capability with more comfort and civility. Ford, Chevy, Jeep and others added creature comforts, passenger capacity and cargo space to their 4x4s. Still rather trucklike, these vehicles nonetheless expanded the breed’s appeal, particularly in the US – a market that Mitsubishi was poised to enter.
For American consumers in 1970s and early 1980s, Mitsubishi was a well-known stranger. While other Japanese manufacturers had staked out their places in the US market a decade or more earlier, Mitsubishi did not – directly. Instead, Mitsubishi entered into an agreement with Chrysler in 1970 to sell small cars and trucks under Dodge and Plymouth badges. This worked well until Chrysler’s own financial problems imperiled this relationship. In 1981, Mitsubishi renegotiated its contract with Chrysler to allow it an independent dealer network. In under two years, the first Mitsubishi-branded vehicles hit US shores (Canada did not get Mitsubishi vehicles until 2002).
Eschewing the bottom end of market (since Chrysler still had the exclusive right to sell Colts), Mitsubishi crafted its US products as niche mid-range vehicles, with the high-tech Starion being the firm’s flagship and expected sales leader. Recognizing the constraints of both the Chrysler contract and Japan’s voluntary export restraints, a Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America executive explained: “It is not our goal to displace Toyota or Nissan. It is our goal to develop a midrange of volume.”
Mitsubishi introduced its fifth US vehicle halfway through the 1983 model year. The Montero expanded the company’s offerings into an exciting market segment, though only its hardtop version was imported. Mitsubishi’s brochure cover reveals its marketing angle – on a city street in front of an Abercrombie & Fitch store. This was the right approach at the right time: 1983 marked the beginning of the Compact SUV boom, when yuppies and suburban families began buying 4x4s in large numbers.
But despite Montero’s many attributes, US sales never took off.
One reason was that although the urban chic marketing approach was on target, it wasn’t totally suited to Montero’s character. This was more of an off-roader than a grocery-getter. More gorilla than urban.
Montero’s short, 92.5” wheelbase created a choppy and bouncy ride around town. On highways, the short wheelbase, combined with a nearly 6’ height, produced a high susceptibility to crosswinds. The rear seat was only slightly less bouncy than that of a CJ-7. With the suburban family market forming the bulk of 1980s SUV sales, these characteristics put Montero at a disadvantage against the more carlike class-leaders.
Of course, the very characteristics that made Montero iffy for suburbanites made it ideal for buyers living in a more rugged environment. Montero’s front torsion bar and rear leaf spring (later changed to coils) suspension was ideally set up for off-roading adventures, aided by standard skid plates, excellent approach and departure angles, and a relatively torquey 4-cylinder engine. 4wd came standard on Montero – a part-time system with a two-speed transfer case. Earlier Monteros had standard manual locking front hubs, though automatic hubs eventually took over.
In a 1983 comparison of mid-size 4x4s, Popular Mechanics noted “If you’re bent on serious off-roading, we say buy the Mitsubishi Montero.” However, the magazine pointed out that the greater comfort of Ford’s Bronco II or Chevy’s S-10 Blazer made those vehicles more suitable for family transportation.
The vast majority of American consumers fell into the latter category. While upwardly mobile customers propelled Ford, Chevy and Jeep sales to staggering heights, Montero rolled along at about 10-15,000 annual units during the 1980s.
While part of this lackluster sales performance was due to Montero’s unsophisticated road manners, part was also due to Mitsubishi’s small dealer network. The company commenced US operations in 29 metro markets, expanding to 80 markets (and 235 dealers) by 1985 – not as small as some import makes, but still rather limiting.
To compensate for this adversity, Mitsubishi and Chrysler agreed to sell a rebadged Montero through Dodge dealers. Available from 1986 to 1989, Dodge Raider actually outsold Montero for some years, suggesting that the dealer network and name recognition were, in fact, significant struggles for Montero sales.
Even with their sales combined, the Montero/Raider pair was the slowest-selling vehicle in its class during the late 1980s. In 1988 for instance, the class-leading GM S-series Blazer/Jimmy sold more examples in a month than the Montero/Raider did all year.
One thing in which Monteros excelled was value. Montero (and Isuzu’s similarly-priced Trooper) undercut other mid-size SUVs by thousands of dollars. However, the typical SUV buyer of the booming 1980s was not terribly value-oriented. Upscale options – of which Montero offered few – sold well with the suburban SUV crowd, so a price advantage in this segment didn’t necessarily translate to greater interest among buyers.
Montero changed only minimally from its 1983 introduction through 1988 – with a new grille and rear bumper, a few extra horsepower, and additional equipment being the major new features. 1989, though, saw some significant upgrades.
Foremost was the addition of a 4-door. A late arrival to American shores, 4-door Monteros had been offered in other markets for five years by that point. Featuring a 13.6” longer wheelbase and 2 feet of extra length, this new model compensated for the 2-door’s deficiencies in drivability, passenger room and cargo capacity. The 4-door model also included a larger fuel tank and some options, like a sunroof, that were otherwise unavailable.
1989 Monteros also received an optional 3.0-liter V-6 engine (standard on 4-doors, optional on 2-doors). Though new on Montero, this engine was not new to the US market, as it had been offered on Chrysler minivans since 1987. In Montero guise, the V-6 developed 143 hp and 168 lb-ft. of torque – significant increases over the dependable but slow 109-hp 2.6L Four. Both engines were offered with either a manual or automatic transmission. All V-6 Monteros gained a rear coil spring suspension for ’89 as well, while 4-cyl. models stuck with leaf springs. (Dodge Raider received neither the 4-dr. nor the V-6, and was dropped altogether after 1989).
Some of Montero’s most unique features popped up in unusual places. The driver’s seat had its own suspension, like those found on big rig trucks, the bounciness of which was adjustable by an under-seat knob. Another unusual feature was a dashboard-mounted inclinometer, hinting at Montero’s off-road credibility and providing owners with a great conversation piece. And headlight washers were useful for either cleaning muck off the lights, or just showing off, since this was virtually unheard-of in the US at the time.
In recent years, surviving Monteros have attained somewhat of a collector status. While I was photographing this example, I met the owner, who wasn’t at all surprised about my interest in his vehicle. He said that he occasionally gets offers to buy the Montero; I got the impression he would have liked folks to have a similar interest in the 19’5” Neptune boat he was towing, which was for sale at the time.
Incidentally, the owner mentioned that he only tows the Neptune around the small, Southern Maryland waterfront community where these pictures were taken. The short Montero and long Neptune made an unusual pair (and possibly a trailer weight balance problem), though for short, flat trips it works out fine.
This Sahara Gold 1989 Montero mates the V-6 with a manual transmission, and includes the few significant options offered for 1989, such as air conditioning, a cassette player, rear wiper and alloy wheels.
Earlier Monteros were offered in base or Sport configurations, but by ’89 Mitsubishi coalesced those into the “Montero SP,” which was what all 2-door models were called that year. The SP gained some former options as standard (automatic hubs, driver’s suspension seat and the inclinometer gauge cluster), but other items like power windows, headlamp washers and chrome trim were unavailable on 1989 2-door Monteros.
Drivers and passengers sat up high in these vehicles and had a commanding view of the road through the tall, airy greenhouse. Front interior space was compact, but not cramped (headroom, on the other hand, was virtually unlimited). For anyone sitting in the 2-passenger rear seat however, the high seating position, combined with an over-the-axle location, didn’t make for very comfortable accommodations, particularly for longer trips. Overall, Montero’s interior contained decent-quality fabrics and plastics, though if a buyer was looking for indulgence, this was no Eddie Bauer Bronco II.
Despite its excellent off-road capabilities, there was one obstacle around which the Montero could not navigate: The US federal bureaucracy, which tossed a mighty pothole into its path. Since the 1960s, imported trucks had been subject to a hefty (22.5%) import tariff, often dubbed the Chicken Tax because it originated with a US/European trade dispute over chicken exports. Oddly, over 20 years, no one had defined “truck” – and since the tariff was administered by the US Customs Service, the car/truck divide could be interpreted differently than in DOT or EPA regulations. This became a noticeable oversight during the SUV boom; Japan imported well over 100,000 SUVs annually, many of which were classified as cars, thus avoiding the tariff.
Complicating matters was that Japan’s export restrictions applied to cars, not trucks. Japan’s smaller exporters, Mitsubishi, Isuzu and Suzuki, willingly imported their SUVs as trucks, to avoid export restrictions, even though that meant paying an extra 22.5% tariff on their vehicles. Meanwhile, Nissan and Toyota used both car and truck designations for their SUVs, often in the same year. Manufacturers just picked whatever category worked best for themselves. It’s not hard to see how this raised eyebrows in Washington.
At the request of Congress, the Customs Service investigated its car/truck classification in 1988, which actually prompted Mitsubishi to halt all Montero imports for several weeks. Customs released some temporary rules which satisfied no one, and then the real fun began. An influential Congressman accused Customs of “bowing to the Japanese” on this issue, and resultingly in January 1989, Customs declared all SUVs to be trucks. This pleased the Big Three, but foreign manufacturers were livid, and lobbied government officials enough that higher-up bureaucrats at the Treasury Department countermanded that finding. The following month, Treasury released a somewhat puzzling new decision: Two-door SUVs would be considered trucks, while their four-door counterparts were cars.
This back-and-forth episode bears the marks of intense lobbying on all sides. If that is the case, then the foreign manufacturers outfoxed their domestic counterparts. While they appeared to sacrifice the major market segment of 2-dr. SUVs, the SUV market was already starting its next chapter where 4-doors would rule the roost. The Treasury decision simply hastened that process.
All of this had immediate implications for Mitsubishi. Imported two-door SUVs such as Monteros suddenly became pointless, since they faced a 22.5% tax that their 4-door siblings did not. Mitsubishi imported few examples after the Treasury Department ruling, and the 2-door model was dropped entirely during the 1990 model year.
The 1st generation 4-door Montero soldiered on through 1991, and two successive generations made it to US shores through 2006. But Montero never succeeded the way many SUVs did. After the 3rd generation, Mitsubishi Motors of North America pulled the plug. Always a competent vehicle with some distinct advantages, Montero recurrently fell just short of what it took be a class leader.
Not that that lack of sales success diminishes the 1st generation Montero’s appeal these days. These were purpose-built 4x4s – vehicles that excelled at what they were designed to do. Though last in the sales race, their unique qualities make them one of the more interesting SUVs of their time. But if you buy one, just leave the groceries for your Cherokee.
Photographed in May 2017 in Solomons, Maryland.
Too much tongue weight on that trailer, good luck with steering.
Good lord yes, he needs to not run that boat up so far on to the trailer.
There is more to the story as yo why the SWB 2-boor was not considered a car and treated instead like a truck. It all has to do with the political power of Lee Iacocca at the time. Iacocca was of course running Chrysler then. He felt the 2 door SWB was a direct competition to the Jeep Wrangler which of course was possibly their best selling unit. He made sure that Congress and Customs got the message. If it wasn’t for that fact the 2 door SWB Montero and the others including the SWB Mercedes G Wagon would have made it to the shores of the US. That’s why the older SWB G Wagons are nearly impossible to be imported to this day. Blame it on Iacocca. That man had incredible power back in the day.
Any vehicle more than 21 model years old may be imported to the USA regardless of its (non)compliance with US emissions standards, and any vehicle more than 25 model years old may be imported regardless of its (non)compliance with US safety standards. Any vehicle under those ages is very difficult and costly, if possible at all, to import.
Unfortunately not so in California. In order to get one of those vehicles into California there is a ton of paper work and various inspections. The cost of that process is into the thousands and it’s best if one hires and expert. Since I have an 85 Montero originally sold in California I can tell the one out side of the US are very much identical if it has a 2.6 engine. Besides that particular 2.6 was designed and used by Chrysler for decades. In all actuality it would not be difficult to get non-US 2.6 to pass California smog. The parts to do it are very much available and rather inexpensive. I do see left hand first generation Pajero’s with the same fuel engine for sale in South America. I have always wanted the one with the cloth top. When I asked an importer about bringing one in from Columbia his response was don’t even try. I can certainly bring it in from any state, but not to California. DMV said it would be close to impossible. However I have seen at least one or two JDM cloth top first gen versions with of course right hand drive. I have yet to hear about a left hand drive version.
As far as getting a G Wagon into California it is possible but will cost over $5 or $6 grand. Doug DeMuro famous youtuber did one and he says he has well over $100,000 into it. But one of those cloth top first generation Pajeros from Columbia would be around $2,500 including transportation.
Of course they will probably need at least another $2 grand to really make them in excellent condition. So in other US states really good first gen cloth top would set one back around $4,500. Which is quite a deal compared to Doug’s $100,000 Mercedes SWB G Wagon convertible. Of course here in California it could cost quite a bit to get it registered. Yes I have looked into this.
My particular first gen 1985 Monty is in excellent condition having being very well maintained. I have a file cabinet full of receipts which include things like a complete engine , frontend suspension and tranny rebuild.
With all that said I’m not tempted to convert into a soft top conversion. Obviously I am a huge fan of this little truck. Otherwise I would not have kept for nearly 36 years. When I first got it I used it to commute off road every day for 4 years. That is the main reason for all that rebuild when I stopped that off road commuting. All of that land is densely developed with very expensive homes anyway.
Today the only question is who will go first my old Monte or me?
I guess US models got a comfort grade suspension tune, Wheels magazine in Australia claimed the Pajero was the first suburban utility vehicle that drove like a regular car, I’ve driven a couple theyre ok nothing to get excited about though the loaners we always got while trucks were being serviced were turbo diesels not the V6 gas engine or 2.6 Astron fours a lot were fitted with, Not a bad effort from Mitsubishi.
By the way the first Mitsi 4×4 was in 1935 or so, predating Jeep by several years and it was a car not a pickup.
I’d like to know if there were significant changes for the US and other markets. I have read that Pajeros were successful in Australia — much more so than in the US, though that may have been more a reflection of consumer preferences rather than of the changes in the car itself.
Regarding how the car drove, Monteros here were rather car-like at low speeds and around town, it was the highway driving in particular that was iffy.
A lot of exJDM cars are iffy at highway speeds, we have some quite challengijng highways and JDM cars were not designed with them in mind, I dont know whether the Pajeros I had to drive were ex JDM or local spec models, they just seemed ok on the road at 100kmh and ok around town, My boss in Tasmania used a mid 90s V6 LWB Pajero to tow his speedway car it did that ok, my sister and BIL bought a 3.4 TDI Pajero to tow their caravan 40,000 kms around Australia over two years and it did just fine, they wanted a used Landcruiser but Australia doesnt have depreciation like NZ does and prices were more than they considered they are worth.
A question – how rust-prone was the Montero? I know that was a problem for many Japanese vehicles in the 80’s.
Great write – up BTW. The Montero strikes me as one of those great vehicles I missed out on, due to my young mind being too parochial at the time…
I don’t think Monteros are known as heavy rusters. The few examples I’ve seen recently have been relatively rust-free; there’s a well-used ’91 4-door Montero in my neighborhood that has minimal rust… much less rust than one would expect from a similar-age 4Runner, for example.
The pre ’92 generation (like the one featured) are pretty typical late 80s Japanese in terms of rust protection: not great. The ’92-’00 trucks on the other hand seem to do much better, they will finally rot out at the rocker panels (and eventually, the frame).
I had a 1994 Pathfinder that I kept until 2007, when I noticed the frame was growing some large rusted-out holes (right where I’d planned to attach a towing rig for my jetski). I gave it to a good friend for use by his son and his son’s auto shop buddies; they drove it for a couple of years on powerline ROR’s. Perhaps I bailed on it too soon…
Early Terranos which is the JDM Pathfinder have biodegradable floors they rust like mad.
I saw a pretty nice mid-90s LS with most options in the junkyard a couple of years ago, had over 200k, interior looked very good and body was above average for 20 years, but I noticed the front suspension was hanging low, as when someone drops the subframe on a unibody FWD car then gives up. It was up on concrete pylons for access underneath. When I looked, the frame had rusted and broken through not far behind the front axle, letting the engine and front end droop from the body. I have never seen that before or since. The frame had simply buckled and fractured on both sides.
This is in NE PA.
I have always wanted a second or third gen. My dad had a late first gen 2 door 4 cyl about 20 years ago. We still joke about the absurd complexity of the vacuum system, and that a new carb was only available from Mitsu and was something like $2000 at the time.
The early (pre-92, “square” Monteros (and Raiders) rusted terribly. (The newer, rounder ones were a LOT better about corrosion) Most Japanese vehicles were quick rusters in Wisconsin, but these seemed worse than usual… a neighbor had a Raider when I was a kid, and it was visibly “holey” within 5 years. My personal 91 Montero had been brought to the Midwest from California and was pretty clean when I got it, but had holes starting all over it within two years… I really liked it, otherwise. I was trying to keep up with everything, POR-15-ing any rust that popped up, but it was a constant battle. It was a great truck, otherwise-my Dad had a string of Jeep Cherokees. My Montero was similar in size, but a lot taller, so it had a lot more interior room. I helped many friends move, with my truck. It could take large furniture inside, and pull a U-Haul trailer with no complaints. The 3.0 seemed less “gutsy” than the 4.0 in the Cherokee. I ended up selling it when my first kid was born and I still miss it.
While in mechanical engineering undergrad, I worked in a nearby Mitsu dealer as a car porter/prep guy. This was the era of Monteros when they had extra body cladding and leather interiors, no 2-doors at all. I liked them, they were interesting vehicles for someone wanting something different to drive. I would sometimes go out with customers for test drives when the dealership was busy (!). Monteros had some unique features and options. I enjoyed pointing them out to car shoppers on the test drives.
It was a fun job. I especially liked driving new 3000GTs and turbo Eclipses just off the car hauler to ferry them from the body shop where they were unloaded to the dealer a few miles away. Because I daily drove a stick shift Civic, I had the inside line on getting that job.
I have no direct experience with Mitsubishi products, but it seems as though rust was not a big issue with them. I would guess something mechanical goes wrong and maybe their owners can’t get parts for the repairs.
When I lived in Memphis there was a house near me that had one of these Montero 2 doors in front of it, never saw it move from its parking spot in 2 years.
It’s like Mitsubishi hit a peak in the late 90s and then their vehicles started to slowly disappear. Occasionally you see an Eclipse or Galant. Very occasionally an older Mirage (Lancer) and almost never a truck…though there is a wrecked (later model) Montero sitting in front of a repair shop a few miles from my new house. That Montero has been in a not too drastic front end collision, but still probably a write-off.
I have the exact opposite experience with Mitsu rust. I have owned 2, a 96 Galant from 05-07 and then a 2002 Diamante from 07-09. The Galant had holes in the trunk that I epoxied some sheet metal over to seal. The Diamante had some bubbles in both rear door jambs, within the arcs of the rear wheel wells.
Absolutely loved both cars. They were just distinctive enough to feel special within my own mundane tastes. And both had some very neat features for their time (the Galant had factory EQ and aux port, the Diamante had a primitive traction control-based stability program, and the famous pictogram auto climate screen).
It’s interesting to see the shift from two doors to four hinted at in the 1988 sales, with GM’s then two-door-only offerings still outselling Jeep’s which had been first in the segment with four doors back in ’84. Then Treasury’s Solomon-like split of the category (I wonder what would’ve happened if it went the other way?)
I saw a good amount of this generation of Montero down in Costa Rica while honeymooning there. The lack of road salt and their mechanical robustness (and heavy local presence of MMC parts support/dealers) ensures that they will keep trucking for years more. There were also more than a few of the following generation, which in my mind are “peak SUV.” Powerful and refined enough to go on long highway trips, without any compromises in offroad ability. My friend bought a beater ’92 out in Bartstow CA with 212k miles for $1200 just to run around the desert in, maintained it minimally, beat the snot out of it, it took it all in stride. A few years later he drove it across the country to SC when he relocated for work, he trusted it that much, and it didn’t let him down.
Mine was a black 1985 Sport. It had the 4 and the automatic. Acceleration was not it’s forte. That being said it, once moving little could stop it. I commuted in it until cylinder head – trans – body rust problems took it off the road. It was replaced by a Scout Traveler.
Great find and informative article Eric. Though I generally liked the styling of the Montero, I found the tall appearance of the greenhouse gave them a ‘high foreheaded’ look. That took away some from their attractiveness.
Very thorough look at one of the compact SUV pioneers. These were quite common on the West Coast, where Mitsubishi undoubtedly had a disproportionate share of dealers and a pretty strong following. And there’s still a few of these around; they were solidly built and a good long-term vehicle.
Its shortness was a major liability. It was the only one in its class that was so short; the Trooper II was much longer and roomier, and its long wheelbase gave it a better ride. Same for the Toyota and the American compact SUVs. The Montero was really more of a Jeep CJ/Wrangler competitor than any of the others. And its ride was the direct result of that very short wheelbase.
I came close to buying a Trooper II, precisely for that reason: more room and better ride. But for a non-family car to be used for off-roading, the Montero was tops.
An excellent in-depth look at the Montero and the external factors that affected it. Well done! Poor Mitsubishi, the 2 door got walloped by the tariff while the 4 door was hit with the import restrictions. At least the restrictions were temporary.
It is amazing that the company did not attempt to bring the 4 door version here sooner than it did. It seemed to me that once Jeep brought out the 4 door Cherokee it was just a matter of time before the rest did too.
I always found these appealing but perhaps actually living with one might not have been the easiest thing ever given that I would never have actually taken it offroad. My opportunity to live with a Colt of this general era gave me a warm spot in my heart for Mitsubishi. It is a shame that they lost their way later.
I sold Chevys for a short time from 1987-late 88. The S-10 Blazers flew off the lots. As soon as they came in, they sold, the more expensive the better; especially any two-tone with gold!
Absolutely love the looks of these. The parents of a childhood friend had a 4-door back in the early 90s and I thought it was the coolest thing ever. I’d love to ramble around in one now, in that seafoam green they were sold in, though 140hp sounds really dismal.
Discount Tire sold a near-replica of those wheels up until recently. I wanted them for the winter tire set on my 4Runner but they were discontinued shortly before. That was a bummer, they look great.
I wouldn’t mind one from that final generation on the US market (ending in 2006) but then I’ve always had a thing for the Land Cruiser and its competitors (most of which we as Americans never received.)
Great article on a vehicle that never gets much attention!
I’ve always been intrigued by all the foreign 4x4s of the 80s and 90s. Monteros, Troopers, Samurais…you name it. They were oddballs in the Midwest even in their prime, but always interesting and seemed to inspire owner loyalty. I still see them around on occasion.
How many 4x4s trace their roots back to license-built Jeeps? Jeep gets more than their share of credit these days (in my opinion), but a lot of it was truly earned back in those early days.
As mentioned above Mitsubishi had a 4×4 car prototype years before the Jeep was invented, Jeeps were reguarded as friendly fire, nice but a flat lander designed it.
Fortunately, I never claimed that Jeep invented four wheel drive, or that Mitsubishi (among many, many others) hadn’t thought of it before WWII.
Good for both of us, then, that the article we’re commenting on specifically mentions that Mitsubishi built Jeeps for Japan in the 1950s. Why not produce their prototype, instead?
And while we’re at it, since the Jeep was such an utter failure “designed by flatlanders”, why was Mitsubishi producing Jeeps at all in the 1950s? I’ll assume it’s because Australia and New Zealand single-handedly won the war with the help of their strictly homegrown automobile design.
In the mid-’90’s. grad school friends drove their Montero from FL to Guatemala (& back), where they spent a year on eco research.
About as off-road as you can get. No problems.
If I’m remembering correctly didn’t this generation of Montero get a “not recommended” rating from Consumer Reports due to its propensity to roll over easily (as did the Samurai)? I imagine that partly explains why it sold so poorly.
Believe it or not, that was the 3rd generation Montero (2000 era). The Samurai was the only one of the 1980s SUVs to fail Consumer Reports’ tipover test, though I think they didn’t recommend customers buy any of the smaller SUVs due to stability reasons.
Great piece, Eric. I learned a lot – not just about the Montero, specifically, but also about Mitsubishi and the whole government thing. This was really informative.
I was surprised to learn the Dodge Raider outsold the Montero in some years, only because I think I could count the number of then-current Raiders on one hand, versus just a few more Monteros I remember seeing at the time.
The “special features” section was awesome – a suspension for the front seats. That’s a completely new concept to me!
Eric, I love how excellently researched your articles are. Now you’ve got me thinking if I can get access to Ward’s Automotive Yearbook so I, too, can compare sales figures and make lovely charts…
Folks like us can lose ourselves for a long time poring over those Ward’s Yearbooks. Mighty tough to find though — I did find a library of industrial history that has a pretty good collection of them, which is where I went for the Montero information. A college near me has older copies of the weekly Ward’s Automotive Reports (which is also great), but not the Yearbooks. Such are the struggles of trying to researching something like Mitsubishi SUV sales…
This really was a great, informative article. Mitsubishi was seemingly everywhere by the early 90s that it’s easy to forget that the length of its non-Chrysler branded history in the U.S. was limited.
I especially liked that these had that “suspension” thing on the driver’s seat.
Thanks Joseph! Mitsubishi seems to have had a brief moment in the sun — in maybe the late ’80s to mid ’90s when the brand had a wide variety of interesting cars. But it’s been downhill for quite a while. What was surprising to me is that Mitsubishi didn’t enter Canada until 2002 — I’m sure there’s a reason behind that late entry, but I’m not sure what it is.
god bless mitsubishi for hanging in there. doug demuro called the mitsubishi mirage the worst car you can buy which i consider high praise. i like the idea of four door hatch with a 5 speed stick out the door for $12k with incentives.
a good friend bought a 2 door one new in the mid eighties. i think he traded in a starion to get it. we never thought of it as an suv. it was just a cheap hardtop jeep with a/c and that wacky inclinometer. i seem to remember that the vehicle came with really good yokahama tires which were still a novelty in the us back then. don’t think he ever took it further off road than a rugby pitch but it served him well for many years.
I’ve never had the pleasure of riding in or driving a Montero. I did have the dubious pleasure of riding in the back seat of a 3rd generation Nissan Patrol for a summer in 1981…my parents sent me to Panama to stay with a family friend, and presumably learn Spanish. Turns out, nearly everybody, even in rural areas, spoke enough English that I could get by and learned damn near nothing. I seem to recall a noisy diesel engine and bouncy ride…
Very good write up. I learned a few things about the Monty. I have owned 3 Monteros and 1 JDM Pajero. My first Monty gave me 316K miles and many stories (hauled uhaul of books from Houston to No Colorado; near moose hit during snow storm on the Teton pass; friend said it rode like a school bus and would sing ‘the wheels go round and round…). I bought a second rusty midwest example from a neighbor and loved it. On I80 in WY one night I kept thinking I needed better headlights and then the deer appeared … Then I bought a Pajero from Duncan in VA, flew there, put new tires on it and drove it back to WY over the weekend. Parking permit states it was a police official and it could park anywhere. It is from a city in the shadow of Mt Fuji. My fourth is from the same neighbor who found it in AZ. Absolutely rust free. These are great vehicles. Great seating position, smooth V6, economical diesel. Mechanical parts available but not body parts.
Purchased new in 1989, tax and license 7,250 ! I wish i would of purchased 2 more ! It now climbs Mts in new mex…orig purchased in big D , 12 yrs in Mn., orig paint and interior. 189k miles ! Trouble free ! I have a FWC jeep and CJ5….um…i dont take those from abq area to moab….i prefer being able to walk around when i get there.