Team-BHP - Mahindra Thar : Official Review

So latest update from my dealer. My CPD has been pushed from 17th March to 8th April now. Huh, this is so frustrating.

The screenshot he sent me from his system shows 3 Thar deliveries on 26th Nov for booking done on 2nd Oct while 2 are on 10th Jan for same 2nd Oct booking. Another 3rd Oct booking is being delivered in Feb.

All bookings are HT and equally split between Diesel and Petrol. Infact 3 petrol AT out of 5 petrols, mine is the only D AT in the list.

So the Hard top, Auto , Diesel ones are the most delayed. And if the colour we want is not in their batch productions , add a couple more weeks to that.

So then , It’s basically the Auto transmission and the Hard Top’s that’s causing grief.

Mahindra to ramp up new Thar production by 50% to meet surge in demand

Quote:

In an effort to reduce the waiting period, Mahindra & Mahindra says it is “fast tracking the process of increasing the production capacity both at its Nashik facility and the supplier end.”

The first Thar was delivered on November 1 to Aakash Minda, the online auction winner. The company has also planned mega deliveries of over 500 Thars during the weekend, across the country.

Commenting on the booking milestone, Veejay Nakra, Chief Executive Officer, Automotive Division, Mahindra & Mahindra said, “We are overwhelmed with this unprecedented response that the new Thar has garnered. I must admit the response has surpassed all our expectations and production capacities. Hence the wait for the new Thar will be longer than expected. We sincerely appreciate our customers’ patience and unwavering confidence in us.”

Nakra added, “We had planned for a capacity of about 2,000 vehicles per month and are now getting ready to ramp it up to 3,000 by January. This would help us bring down the waiting period to a reasonable timeline.”

https://www.autocarpro.in/news-natio...n-demand-77652

2000 per month in Nov, Dec and Jan makes it 6000 pieces only that will be delivered. Out 20,000, that leaves 14,000 booking commitments. At 3000 per month, that will take 5 months to deliver, which still takes you to June 2021.

Even if we consider cancelations, at 40%, we still easily are looking at 12000 bookings, taking deliveries to March 2021 roughly still.

This is all of bookings done only in 1 month. Add country wide bookings still happening and I don't think we are ever looking at reduced waiting period. Huh, this is crazy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by justwheels (Post 4924099)

Huh, this is crazy.

Crazy is when you consider that the booking figures are double the annual sales of Thar, for the last two years. :D

2019 - 3605 units
2018 - 6430 units

Mahindra anticipated the demand for the new Thar to be 5 times higher from 400 units a month to 2000. But looks like even that wasn't enough for the initial demand.

Once this initial hype settles down and if Thar is able to manage 2000+ units per month consistently over a long enough period, I would expect a healthy availability of new Thar in the used car market at reasonable prices, which was not the case until now. However, I am somehow still not convinced that a vehicle as special as Thar with a limited use case can sell 2000+ units per month and the reason for my negativism is the sales numbers of the 4X4 variants of the existing cars like Duster, Scorpio, Safari, Endeavor, Fortuner. The demand is very low and strictly enthusiast driven.

Finally, with a heavy heart I have cancelled my booking for this legendary ride. Initially I was told that the delivery would be within the first 45 days but now they have moved it to 60+ days and that too with no certainty. Next target XUV500 :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by AVL500 (Post 4924178)

Once this initial hype settles down and if Thar is able to manage 2000+ units per month consistently over a long enough period, .......

....The demand is very low and strictly enthusiast driven.

I agree that even 2000 is a very big number for Thar after say 1 year. If they manage to sustain that, it will be brilliant case study. And guess that will also mean they will have to keep it relevant by updates and features at a faster pace. Good for consumers for sure.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SatyRoy (Post 4924189)

Any reason why you cancelled immediately. You could have waited till last minute to see if the waiting periods were getting reduced, since you are ok with 45days and not with 60 days, only a 15 day difference. A lot of cancelations are expected and hence you might be able to get delivery not very far from 45 days also. Just my 2 cents.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SatyRoy (Post 4924189)

Exactly, as "Justwheels" said, Since you are now again patient enough to wait for still in development XUV500 with no promise of start of sales in June. You could have better held onto the Thar dream till the last moment..

In other aspect of TDs, potential customers were waiting for weeks in few cities. There is a youtuber "iam brintow" is on a touring (short trips) spree with the Thar, and boy the locations he travels are awesome and make some jealous or make few to hold onto their bookings. Must check it out..

Quote:

Originally Posted by SatyRoy (Post 4924189)

It seems the XUV has tugged you a lot more than the Thar , a two weeks move wouldn’t really have made a difference , isn’t it ? Or is it because that it is 60+ days with a very uncertain commitment ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTO (Post 4922198)

You'll also have major social stigma as all your friends & relatives will think you are in the delivery / construction business and when you need to service it, there will be just 1 dealer in your city.

I would rather buy a Thar / SUV / Crossover over the V-Cross. Pickup trucks aren't everyone's cup of tea.

True, this image of pickup trucks will improve once Toyota brings in their Hilux to India but until then with the tiny service network of Isuzu, Thar remains the more practical choice!

Quote:

Originally Posted by psmenon (Post 4923991)

Even though I understand the emotional feeling and the pride that Mr Akash would be going through now, I am just curious on the resale value of this Thar in other 10 years.

He will be lucky to get 1/15th of what he paid today. Having said that, resale value would be the last thing on someone's mind who paid 11 million rupees on a not so special car (I mean, the car has faux leather seat covers).
And it also has his initials engraved somewhere. Who will want that? The car will stay in his garage until it disintegrates and dies.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SatyRoy (Post 4924189)

When you are going to live with a car for 5 - 10 years, do a couple of days / weeks / months extra on the waiting period matter (unless the need is critical and there is no car in the house)? I wouldn't think so. Personally, if I really loved a car, I'd even wait 1 year for it. But then, I'm an outlier.

We had a poll on waiting periods, where 85% of BHPians said they'd wait for a maximum of 2 months only.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mat095 (Post 4924297)

True, this image of pickup trucks will improve once Toyota brings in their Hilux to India

Hardly so! Perceptions and "image" are ingrained after years of conditioning. Example: Mercedes & Skoda both launched fast + premium station wagons / estates in India, but it did nothing for the dud image of that body style.