This is good news for all markets.

Automotive alliances are vital for reducing R&D costs and maximizing the effectiveness of vehicle production. It’s mutually beneficial and allows for the pooling of resources to make certain markets more open to new models or brands. A cool advantage of an alliance is the possibility of bringing back a discontinued nameplate like the Mitsubishi Pajero. CarsGuide got a tip from our friends about plans for Nissan to give their Patrol platform over to Mitsubishi. This will allow them to update the Pajero for an upcoming generation.

The United States is missing the most recent Mitsubishi Pajero and the Nissan Patrol. People who are still alive can recall the Patrol of the 1960s and its modernized return as an Infiniti QR56 or the Mitsubishi Pajero’s last two-decade-long run. Unfortunately, these best-selling Japanese SUVs have never been officially imported to America. These two SUVs make a lot of money in countries such as Australia. The Pajero is still in business, despite it being removed in Japan. The Pajero is still going strong despite it being more than 14 years old.

John Signoriello from Mitsubishi Australia, the chief executive, said that there is a product plan that’s being implemented. However, details are not yet available. The beauty of platform and product sharing within an alliance is that you never know what it could bring. The business case is the key to any alliance. Is it possible to come up with a business argument in the end? The Alliance will decide if there are any other platforms that can be shared. It is interesting to note that Trevor Mann, Mitsu’s former CEO in 2007, stated in Geneva in 2007 that the Nissan Patrol was his most likely brand partner for the next generation Pajero. It seems that the game is finally on, we think.