The Indian Army is not happy at all with the reliability of its Mitsubishi Pajero SUVs due to recurring engine malfunctions in the vehicles. The Indian Army had acquired around a dozen SUVs from the Japanese company in 2011.
The Mitsubishi Pajero is a true tried and tested rough’n’tough SUV which is capable of flattening huge mountains without much effort. Or so, it was what the Indian Army had thought while buying a dozen or so of these legendary SUVs to tough it out in the beautiful Sikkim mountains against the Chinese Army, which had acquired similar vehicles to help in better troop management. Now the Indian Army is miffed with Mitsubishi and is saying that the Pajeros supplied to Sikkim did not perform up to their expectations and had to be brought down to Kolkata.
The Indian Army has critically panned the perceived quality and ruggedness of the Mitsubishi Pajero SUVs due to the vehicles not performing upto their specifications, developing engine problems, especially at higher altitudes. The Army says that the situation got so bad that they had to bring down three of them to the plains in Kolkata. The Eastern Army Command uses one of the SUVs as a Flagcar as they cannot just leave these vehicles to rot uselessly.
Mitsubishi on the other hand refutes the Army’s claims and instead blames them for using poor quality diesel and Aviation Turbine Fuel (ATF), which is 70% kerosene, instead of an imported additive suggested by the carmaker. It is to be noted that at high altitudes and subzero temperatures, diesel freezes and thus the engine stalls. Therefore to prevent this, Mitsubishi suggests using an imported additive. Mitsubishi also added that the Pajeros at the other side of the border were working fine.
The Indian Army is one automobile customer which demands high quality and reliability, along with good availability of spares and service facilities. The traditional vehicles of choice by the Army in the eastern Himalayas are Maruti Gypsy and Mahindra four-wheel drives. Due to the use of different fuel, major issues develop in the fuel injection pumps and related engine parts, thereby reducing engine life and service ceiling.
Indian Army Not Happy With Mitsubishi Pajero
– The Indian Army is is saying that the Pajeros supplied to Sikkim did not perform up to expectations
– The Army is saying that the Pajeros SUVs are developing engine problems, especially at higher altitudes
– Mitsubishi refutes the Army’s claims and instead blames the army for using poor quality fuel
– Mitsubishi suggests using an imported additive to prevent freezing up of diesel at sub-zero temperatures
