While Mahindra states that it cannot produce the current-generation Thar and Thar Roxx in sufficient numbers to meet demand in its domestic Indian market, let alone Australia, it has promised that a next-generation off-road vehicle like the Thar is in development for our market.
Speaking to Australian media in India last week, Velusamy R, the president of Automotive Technology and Product Development at Mahindra, stated that current local demand for the Thar is almost double the company’s production capacity.
“Demand is now 12-13,000 per month in India, [but] our production is hardly 7-6000, roughly,” Velusamy R said.
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“We also thought [demand for] the three-door Thar might come down after introducing the five-door, however, it didn’t come down. Still, there is enough market for three-door Thar, and the capacity for three-door is still fully occupied.”
While he ruled out the current model for our market, Velusamy R confirmed that a new vehicle that will be very similar to the Mahindra Vision Thar.e concept unveiled in South Africa in August 2023 will be coming to Australia.
“The name can be different, but what you saw in South Africa, you will get it in Australia”
Although the Mahindra Vision Thar.e is a fully electric off-roader concept that looks nothing like the combustion-powered Thar revealed in 2020, the version heading to Australia will be available with internal combustion engines as standard, and potentially hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains as well. It is unclear whether a fully-electric version of the model will also head to our market, but it seems unlikely.
The current-generation Thar, which controversially resembles a Jeep Wrangler, has its origins in the original CJ-series Jeep, which the company had been producing under license since the 1940s.
The Stellantis group, which owns Jeep, has gone out of its way to stop Mahindra from bringing the current Thar to our market in the past.
Back in 2021, Mahindra was issued a “cease and desist” request from Stellantis following its plans to bring the Thar to Australia, with the American company stating that it would “pursue all available avenues to stop Mahindra from continuing to make misleading and deceptive representations in relation to our Jeep brand, pass off their Thar as a Jeep Wrangler and infringe our design rights”.
Given that Mahindra says the concept is very close to what the production model will look like, the new model heading to Australia in the coming years will appear very different to the Wrangler, which means Stellantis won’t have to worry about it offending the 724 Australians who bought a Wrangler in 2024.
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