A few days ago, we brought you spy shots of the Thar 5-door with a much larger infotainment screen. Today, new spy shots have surfaced on the internet showing the upcoming SUV’s front styling, which is not the same as the Thar 3-door.
- Thar 5-door to get new grille design
- Top variants could get LED projector headlamps as standard
- Expected to go on sale early next year
Mahindra Thar 5-door: new front styling
All Thar 5-door test mules spied so far seem to have an identical front to the 3-door version, but the test mule in these spy shots seems to have a lot of unique bits. First up, the round headlamps have LED projector units. Replacing the stock halogen headlamps with fancy, aftermarket LED units is one of the most common upgrades done by almost every Thar buyer in India. Mahindra seems to have finally decided to provide LED projector headlamps on the Thar straight from the factory.
The other change is the grille, which seems to be an all-new unit with six slats divided by two vertical separators for each slat, instead of the one slat seen on the 3-door Thar. There’s a prominent horizontal divider running across the width too, which looks larger. A plastic honeycomb mesh is provided behind the grille to keep dust particles from clogging the radiator unit.
Mahindra has faced multiple copyright infringement suits from FCA (now Stellantis) due to the Jeep-like design seen on some of its SUVs, like the Roxor. The new grille design distances the Thar even further in terms of design, which would help Mahindra sell the Thar overseas without any hiccups.
The front bumper looks the same as the Thar 3-door, but a close look reveals that Mahindra could provide LED projector fog lamps on the Thar 5-door, instead of the standard halogen units seen on the 3-door model.
Mahindra Thar 5-door aimed at lifestyle SUV buyers
As reported by us earlier, the Thar 5-door will have more features, like a larger infotainment screen, a single-pane sunroof, armrests for the front and rear passengers, and a few other added bits. It will target SUV buyers looking for a lifestyle vehicle like the Thar, but with the added practicality of having five doors, and a usable cargo space.
Mahindra Thar 5-door launch early next year
The Thar 5-door will come with petrol and diesel engines when it goes on sale early next year. Mahindra has yet to deliver over 2.8 lakh vehicles, while the Thar 3-door has over 68,000 open bookings as of August 2023, and garners 10,000 fresh orders every month for both 2WD and 4WD models. Mahindra says the Thar 2WD’s demand is skyrocketing, and it currently has a 15-month waiting period. The more expensive Thar 4WD’s waiting period is around five months at most locations.
Apart from the Thar 5-door, Mahindra is also readying a major update for the XUV300 compact SUV, which is scheduled to launch in 2024. Last week, Mahindra also unveiled the Thar.e concept, as well as a Scorpio N-based pickup truck concept, at its Futurescape event in Cape Town, South Africa.