Mahindra Thar 3-door was launched in India two years ago and it jump-started the lifestyle off-roader genre
Mahindra is a pioneer in making UVs like Maruti is a pioneer in making small and fuel efficient cars. The Indian auto giant is known for its UVs, be it MUVs or SUVs. Any Mahindra that doesn’t belong to these, don’t really sell at all. Like KUV100, which sold just one unit in June 2021 and zero units in June 2022.
After setting foot in UV segment, Thar launched Mahindra as the highest-selling lifestyle off-road vehicle manufacturer too. Thar is so popular that even after two years of launch, waiting periods are still very high. Not as high as Scorpio N’s waiting list though. With Force and Maruti Suzuki trying to push this growing segment, Mahindra has been busy developing a 5-door version of Thar.
New Mahindra Thar 5 Door Front View
Thar takes the cake for being the first-ever desirable lifestyle off-roader from a well-established manufacturer. When we say desirable, we mean properly feature-loaded cars with all creature comforts executed in a seamless way. This is where Gurkha lacks. Speaking of Gurkha, Force motors is launching a 5-door 6-seater, 5-door 9-seater and a mammoth 5-door 13-seater Gurkha too.
All of these Gurkhas are production ready too and will launch much earlier crashing the upcoming 5-door Thar’s party. Mahindra might be late to the scene, but is likely to catch up in no time, in terms of sales. We have spied multiple test mules of 5-door Thar. But the frequency of the test mule sitings has gone up slightly. Below is the latest test mule of the Thar 5-door SUV, revealing the front view. It was spied with the 3 door version.
This indicates that testing procedures are being carried out rigorously. This is a good thing, as consumers waiting for it would rejoice. The recent spy shot reveals most of the rear profile. Speaking about the rear, it gets an identical-looking tailgate along with LED taillights, rear fog lamps, spare wheel housing and also bumper.
However, rear suspension seems to be tweaked slightly as it gets a new beefier sway bar that now is positioned below its differential. There is no emission testing equipment found on this. Hence, we can expect the same set of petrol and diesel engines too.
Specs & Features
R Velusamy, Mahindra Senior VP & Head of Automotive Product Development, has confirmed that the upcoming 5-door version of Thar will be based on Scorpio N’s platform, which is in turn based on a heavily modified Thar 3-door platform. According to Mahindra, 81% of this platform is made of high-strength steel. Hence, Thar 5-door can also get the same penta-link suspension as found on Scorpio N.
2023 Mahindra Thar 5-door might not get a 4X4 system as standard across the range like 3-door Thar gets. Hence making it more accessible. It will get the same set of engines as Thar 3-door, Scorpio N and XUV700. But it is likely that power and torque output could be similar to Scorpio N.
Mahindra will launch 5-door Thar in 2023 around the same time when 5-door Jimny is also likely to launch. When launched, Thar 5-door will compete with both 5-door Gurkha and 5-door Jimny. In terms of pricing, we can expect around Rs. 1 lakh to 1.5 lakh more over 3-door Thar.
