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-   -   The 2020 next-gen Mahindra Thar : Driving report on page 86 (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/184808-2020-next-gen-mahindra-thar-driving-report-page-86-a-5.html)

Hope this doesn't make Thar another 15 lakh plus non mover in the market :uncontrol

Jokes apart, i hope and pray they keep their design rooted to the jeep and 4x4 traits and not make it a flashy soft roader. Lighter, safer and more capable offroader at a reasonable price.. should be their focus for this vehicle. Or it will become yet another yuppie urban street only vehicle.

+1 - My one hope and wish is that M&M offer their own factory fitted hard top option. I feel that this missing option has deterred a large number of buyers from opting for a Thar - including yours truly!

If M&M don't tinker with the design which makes the next gen Thar unrecognisable from the current version, I too will be in the market. Having said that, I am not anticipating a killer pricing.

Completely agree with the sentiments expressed by you regarding the design, but even if the design is the same, you are going to have to pay a premium for the creature comforts and safety features.

Nothing like a factory fitted hardtop. Maybe, if the Thar with the hardtop can be marketed as a higher end trim with some other accessories thrown in.

Recend sales figures trends dont encourage the development of a new Thar yet. Sales for CrdE are hovering to around 250 to 300 units a month average.

However a refurbished relaunch may actually drive sales, where with more refinements it becomes a daily drive option too even at 14 to 15 Lakhs.

Given the fact the the new crash norms will come into effect from April 2020, M&M have no option but to develop a 'new' Thar. Or discontinue production.

Doubtful that the company will chose the latter option and withdraw from the off road segment. More likely, as you have stated, a 'new' Thar with more creature comforts, will actually drive sales by attracting buyers who will use the Thar for their daily commute.

M&M might design a new chassis to better align with crash norms but design wise I do not think they can deviate much. The reason for my thinking is based on the Willy's designs that M&M has license to. If they change much, will they be able to produce the iconic look?

I completely agree with you that it will be difficult to replicate the iconic look, if M&M chose to deviate from the Willy's design on which the current Thar is based. Especially, now that Jeep is active in the Indian auto market.

But having stated the obvious, M&M may decide to introduce a completely new design. I only hope for the sake of aficionados of the iconic Jeep look, they stick to the current design and only focus on the safety aspects and the creature comforts.

Mahindra does have a new 1.5 engine that has decent power. Can they not take a leaf out of the Jimny play book and cross it with the Wrangler inspiration and put out a new Thar that is decent and retails in the 7 to 8 lakh bracket.

I would even go further and say that Mahindra needs to treat the Thar like a DIY model /studio model sale. Put a base product for 6L and let people personalise it with options. Make a few of the vendors who supply Thar related stuff as your approved providers giving them a MOPAR like platform.

IMHO, I would be very surprised if M&M chose to come out with a stripped down model in the price range you have mentioned.

In this context, I believe that buyers would rather buy the Thar with a factory fitted hard top and other OEM accessories than spend time coordinating the upgrade even if there are approved vendors and the prices for the upgrades are fixed by the company.

More importantly, this approach implies that the company will have to take responsibility for price fixation and QC vis a vis the vendors. As the market for the Thar is small segment for the company and will never be a mass market product, I doubt M&M would want to be saddled with these additional responsibilities.

If the new Crash test norms are to be incorporated, MHawk engine comes in and a Non removable metal hard top comes in then it will go the Jeep Cherokee way. Maybe it will resemble a TUV 300.
For such sales volumes Mahindra will take the existing 'Bin Parts' route again.

I reckon that a possibility is that the next "Thar" will be a 4x4 TUV 300.

It will be accessorised to look more butch.

It may be either 1.5L or 2.2L.

I may have not been clear, What i meant was that the 1.5 L engine would take the Thar into a lesser Tax Bracket considering that the vehicle itself is a short wheel base car that can be fit into the 4 meter bracket.

Price fixation wouldn't have to come under the M&M purview but yes if they are agreeing to put their name behind the vendor's products they would have to ensure that the product meets the expectation of quality.

My thought process was that with new product line say a MOPAR like line was developed then it could cater to all the Mahindra product line from the Tivoli Twin, Rexton Twin, Marrazzo, Thar and so on. It would give the Mahindra a differentiation factor.

Notwithstanding the classic/iconic design, it must be remembered that the powerful 2498 cc CRDe engine makes the Thar such a sought after vehicle. Will the 1.5 L engine match the power of the current engine of the Thar??

If the price for a particular mod is not going to be fixed by M&M, then what is the purpose of an approved vendor. Like so many have documented on this forum, a buyer can approach any third party based on feedback received, to carry out mods to the Thar .

The New Marazzo engine is actually more powerful than the Thar CRDe engine 120 Bhp vs 105 Bhp and 300 Nm of Torque vs 247 Nm of Torque.

The MOPAR example was more of an example of Mahindra having an avenue to develop a personalisation/ power parts brand than another outlet for selling more products.

Thar is a lifestyle vehicle and since there is no competition, Mahindra is able to get away by charging a tidy sum for a basic and rudimentary package.



Putting a 1.5 will totally ruin the package. I think they will put the detuened 2.2 mhawk from the TUV300 plus (9-Seater) with the fixed geometry turbo.