I stuck to the single source, crowdsourced though it may be, for consistency. My numbers were more for illustrative purposes than business intelligence.

Your figures come up to 815,000. Let's just call it an even 1,000,000 TJ/JKs. This makes the grand total 3,208,000 Jeeps sold (not counting Cherokee, Patriot, et al.). Even then, a million TJ/JKs represents 31% of all Wranglers sold. It's still less than a third of over 70 years production. Where are the rest of them?

Assuming one were to run global sales numbers for the Pajero (not counting Challenger, Triton, Delica (MY PRECIOUS!)) in similar fashion to what I did the other night, we might get closer to an apples-to-apples comparison. But let's forget those global numbers altogether. The TJ came out in 1996 as a 1997 model. (I'll always remember this, as I was looking to order a 97 Wrangler in the summer of 1996 when I ended up driving away in the Eagle Talon they had on the showroom floor.) CJ7 was sold from 1976 to 1986, and YJ was sold through 1996.

How often do we see these old Jeeps running around? How often do we see old Pajeros running around? I know, as Mitsubishi owners, we're more likely to spot Mitsubishis than Jeeps, BUT we're also off-roaders, with a pretty keen eye for others we think "get it." Square headlight Jeeps are a special thing. CJs even moreso. As we're always on the lookout for cool wheels, we stand a better chance of most, but I'm not ruling out confirmation bias, here, ya know?

Long story short(er, -ish), I'd be willing to bet, if we had access to reputable numbers, comparing the number of Jeep Wranglers and Pajeros sold in North America in the years when both were available - 1982?-1996 - with the numbers still registered as being on the road, you'd see the old Mitsubishis are, as a percentage, just as common as the Jeeps. Personally, I actually believe you'd see MORE old Pajeros on the road than their AMC/DCX contemporaries, to be honest.

It's all internet fanboi speculation, but like I said, I've been watching Mitsubishi for a long time. I see their world class truck light truck offerings cut off at the knee by crony capitalism, and I see their 2-steps-ahead-of-everyone-else business plan completely missed by my peers who would join me in wanton navel-gazing because zomgz they're killing the Evo and the supply of $1500, beat-ass DSMs dried up years ago, clearly Mitsubishi will be dead by next week, Tuesday.

Mitsubishi got burned a few years back when they offered 0% financing and no payments for something like a year to laughably "qualified" buyers. They're still here, and still focused on building their new lineup of environmentally friendly vehicles that aren't A) completely pedestrian (Nissan Leaf), B) marketing SNAFU (Chevy Volt), or C) more than you can afford, pal (Tesla S). They've got one of the fastest cars up Pike's Peak 3 years running - and it's 100% electric. That technology is coming to a Mitsubishi dealer near you sooner than any of us probably know. The humble iMiEV, golf cart extraordinaire? It's a Kei platform pushing 10 years old. If that's your basis for rolling your eyes at MMC, I've got a 3.1L Chevy Corsica that proves GM will never get a government bailout.

This is what they just announced on the international auto show circuit within the last month (in case you missed it):



That's the direction MMC is going. Is it a solid axle, dual locker, Dusy-buster? No, but they already offer such things. You don't like not being able to buy one here, don't complain to Mitsubishi. Complain to your elected "representatives" in the capitol. In the meantime, I am - to the chagrin of most on these intarwebz - a Mitsubishi customer, enthusiast, and believer. Ichimai-iwa, gentlemen. Ichimai-iwa.