Mahindra to launch Jimny's rival Thar 5-door in 2024

Mahindra & Mahindra on Friday said that the company’s much-awaited Thar 5-door will be launched in 2024, thus putting rest to several speculations of the SUV's (sport utility vehicle) launch in this calendar year. The bookings for Thar 5-door, which is touted to be a major rival of Maruti Suzuki's Jimny, has already started.

"Thar 5-door is a highly anticipated product, it is very exciting. But it is not coming this calendar year, which is what many people are speculating, so let me clarify that it is a 2024 calendar launch. We have a lot of demand for Thar. We have got more than 50,000 bookings after the rear-wheel drive. And right now we want to get that a little under control, the waiting period for Thar 5-door has gone up dramatically, so we need to ramp that up. Hence, we look at Thar 5-door coming up in 2024," said Rajesh Jejurkar, Executive Director & CEO (Auto and Farm Sector), during a press briefing on Friday.

Mahindra initially launched Thar (3-door) in 2010. In October 2020, the company launched the second generation of Thar. In January this year, Mahindra, while launching the Thar 2WD (3-door) model, said that the Thar 5-door model will be launched soon. This is the first time that the company has introduced 5 doors in Thar. Mahindra Group has been testing Thar 5-door since last year. Unlike Thar 3-door, Thar 5-door will have 5 doors and a boot space. With the Thar 5-door, the company will be able to retain features such as bigger dimensions, a 300 mm wheelbase and 4WD (four-wheel drive) configuration. This will be the first time that the company will be introducing a 4WD configuration in Thar. The concept is similar to Maruti Suzuki’s Jimny (5-door) with 4WD configuration.

Thar 5-door will be available in three variants: AX Optional Diesel RWD, AX Optional Petrol 4WD, and AX Optional Diesel 4WD. While AX Optional Diesel RWD will be available at a starting price of ₹10,54,500, AX Optional Petrol 4WD and AX Optional Diesel 4WD will be priced at ₹13,87,300 and ₹14,49,001, respectively. All three variants are equipped with HVAC, R16 A/T tyres, front-facing rear seats, a roll cage and 2 airbags.

According to the company’s website, as of May 1st, 2023, the open bookings for Thar, including Thar 5-door and Thar RWD models, stood at more than 58,000 units. The SUV has been recording 14,000 bookings per month since February.

Meanwhile, Mahindra Group continued to helm the SUV segment for the March quarter in FY23, with a market share of 19.6% led by XUV400, XUV700 and Scorpio –N (including classic). This is the 5th consecutive quarter, that the company has maintained its position as a SUV major, with its volumes at 99,112 units. In FY23, the company’s total SUV volume stood at 69,85,000 units, with a 19.1 % market share.

As on May 1st 2023, the company has an open booking of 2,92,000 units of XUV300 & XUV400, XUV700, Thar (in RWD), Bolero and Scorpio-N. Of this, the open bookings for XUV300 and XUV400 stand at 29,000 units, whereas XUV700 has open bookings at 78,000 units. The open bookings of Bolero (including neo) and Scorpio-N continue to be at 8,200 and 1,17,000 units, respectively.

In its SUV segment, the company has collectively recorded fresh bookings of 57,000 units per month since February. The company has billings for approximately 33,000 units since February. The cancellation rate stood at less than 8% per month.