Mitsubishi Pajero Sport to get automatic transmission

The homegrown auto major, Hindustan Motors will introduce the automatic version of the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport SUV in the Indian car market next fiscal. The company's chairman, CK Birla on the annual general meeting said that HM has finalised an agreement with the Japanese carmaker Mitsubishi to launch an automatic transmission on the Pajero Sport SUV.

Launched in early 2012, the Pajero Sport is locally assembled at the company's Tiruvallur production plant in Chennai. Moreover, HM is also planning to introduce a new model with Mitsubishi badge in next fiscal, which could be a diesel powered Outlander SUV.

Currently, the Pajero Sport is powered by a 2.5-litre diesel engine that churns out a maximum power output of 178bhp and 400Nm of peak torque. This engine is mated to a five-speed manual transmission, which transmits power to all-4 wheels. It is expected that the automatic transmission to be fitted in the SUV could be the 'INVECS-II 5-speed automatic with Sportronic', which currently paired to same engine for Thai customers.