Two off-road vehicles were "discontinued" at the same time. What's the secret in it? Let's take a look.

This year's car circle, there were two big news. Toyota Prado and Mitsubishi Pajero, two off-road vehicles that are deeply loved by car fans, announced the suspension of production one after another within a week, but everyone later learned that their suspension of production seems to be different from what they expected. What happened? Let's have a look.

It is said that every man will yearn for a big adventure in his heart, climb the highest mountain in a hard-core off-road vehicle, cross the most urgent river and be a pure man. But when it's time to experience life with practical actions, most people will still choose to comfortably nest on the sofa and silently give a praise to the forum brother's travel post on the road.

Therefore, real off-road players only account for a small part of the owners, and the well-known hard-core off-road vehicles cannot be counted with both hands. However, not long ago, this already small circle was hit by a wave of criticism. Mitsubishi Pajero and Toyota Prado, two civilian off-road vehicles in the hearts of fans, announced that they would stop production within one week.

When I first heard the news, many off-road vehicle fans said that their hearts were broken all over the floor. Later, everyone found out that they had been cheated by the manufacturer. It seems that the emotional shutdown is different from where you think you will go. First of all, Pajero's suspension of production is limited to the Japanese domestic market and will not affect exports. Mitsubishi also issued a special statement telling China consumers not to panic. What Prado wants to cut is the domestic model with average sales volume, which will only start in June next year. Parallel imported cars that are more popular with domestic consumers will not be affected.

So since neither of these two cars has been completely discontinued, shall we just pretend that nothing happened? First of all, Pajero's first generation Pajero was born in 1982. It is a slightly modified chassis of a pickup truck owned by Sanpei. Compared with today's off-road vehicles, the first generation Pajero is more like a tool car born purely for taking a bad road and pulling heavy goods.

Pajero, who was born in a pickup truck, took part in the Dakar Rally in the second year of listing and won the third place in the world's most difficult bicycle race. In just two years, Pajero successfully swept the top three in Dakar Rally from 65438 to 0985, which almost surprised the jaw of cross-country enthusiasts all over the world.

When the second-generation model went on the market, Pajero was out of control, because Mitsubishi installed killer technology and super-selected four-wheel drive for him. Pajero's super-selected four-wheel drive is a follow-up mode, plus three four-wheel drive modes. To put it simply, Pajero can not only take part-time four-wheel drive, but also choose the state of four-wheel drive as needed.

With this black technology, the second generation Pajero shines brilliantly and has just embarked on the peak of building a car. Not only did it reach the annual sales volume of 6.5438+0.4 million vehicles, but it also shined in Jackie Chan's movies.

However, from the third generation, Pajero gave up the standard cross beam of off-road vehicles and adopted the load-bearing body of ordinary SUVs instead. Although it turns out that Pajero's load-bearing body is also excellent, this deviant play still makes countless off-road powders unacceptable. It is also from this generation that Pajero was sprayed the most, and its extremely weak chicken power system.

The domestic version of Pajero only has a 3.0L? The V6 engine has a maximum horsepower and torque of 177 255 Nm, respectively, so Pajero's engine failed to bring the original rough and surging power that off-road vehicle owners should have. Instead, it often growls feebly on the slope after pulling heavy luggage.

Not only is the engine old, but Pajero seems to be completely behind the times in many ways. At present, the fourth generation Pajero has been produced for 13 years and has not been replaced. And the quality of Pajero is often problematic.

When Pajero began to decline, Toyota Prado began to take advantage of it. In fact, since the birth of 1990, Prado's goal is to grab meat from Pajero's mouth.

When Pajero stumbled in China because of many quality problems, Toyota took advantage of your illness to kill you decisively. At this time, the third generation Prado was made in China.

Moreover, it is also a thief, adding a bunch of configurations to Prado to increase the sense of luxury and comfort, such as leather steering wheel, remote key seat, heated rear independent air conditioning and so on. So it is also a good off-road ability. Pajero seems to be born purely for cross-country. Prado, as a large Highlander, will naturally sell much better in the city. At the same time, Prado's resistance to manufacturing is notoriously abnormal, often hundreds of thousands of kilometers without overhaul, while Pajero can export a large number of baskets just because of minor defects under rough workmanship.

In fact, in Bian Xiao's view, Prado is selling so well now, and the biggest contributor may not be because of its reliability, but because of Pajero, an opponent, because of the more fun hard-core off-road vehicle of this level and price. I really can't find the third one. Although Prado also has many minor faults, it seems acceptable compared with Pajero. A joke is set off by peers. This time Pajero stopped production in Japan, which is worrying. I can't get along in my hometown, but I can still travel outside for a few years. Prado will be imported later, and it will be even crazier if you increase the price. what do you think?

This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.