Mitsubishi Motors Corp. said Wednesday it will end sales of Pajero sport utility vehicles, or SUVs, in the domestic market after finishing production in August following a slump in sales.

The same day the automaker said it had started selling 700 units of the Pajero Final Edition in Japan, priced at ¥4.53 million, while continuing overseas sales of the model in more than 70 countries.

The all-wheel drive vehicle, first released in 1982, contributed to an SUV boom in Japan during the early 1990s, with its global popularity boosted by 12 Dakar Rally victories.

As of March, Mitsubishi Motors had sold more than 640,000 units of the Pajero in Japan, it said.

But recent domestic sales of the car fell short of 1,000 units per year due partly to stricter emissions regulations in the country, and it was superseded by the automaker's other fuel-efficient SUVs such as the Outlander and Eclipse Cross.

Mitsubishi Motors joined the alliance between Nissan Motor Co. and French automaker Renault SA after Nissan acquired a 34 percent stake in the Pajero producer in October 2016.