Dear All – I have read all your comments in detail and I would like to share some thoughts with you. Before you start reading, I would also like to mention to you that
I am not trying to justify anything. If you read my comments carefully, you will understand everything.
I have been saying many times and I am saying this again today that in order to be able to sell a vehicle in the Indian market, it must meet the current CMVR, or “Central Motor Vehicle Rules”. CMVR consists of a variety of requirements for which tests are conducted on a representative vehicle. Vehicles are certified in various categories. The category for vehicles to be registered with a white number plate is technically known as “M1” category. These M1 category of vehicles, have to compulsorily meet the most critical and most stringent CMVR requirements.
Thar is certified for registration in the M1 category in India.
Let me give you one example. There is a test called the “Head Impact Test”. M1 category vehicles must meet this test. This test is not mandatory for other categories of vehicles in which we could have homologated Thar for you but then you would have got a yellow number plate and nobody would have bought the vehicle. This test consists of a ball which is around 150 mm in diameter, which is smashed against the instrument panel at a particular angle / orientation / velocity. It is essentially required that the force generated must not exceed a certain value of “G” in a time of “T” milliseconds. In order to meet this test, we have incorporated the long rubber strip on the instrument panel. I hope now you will appreciate why the strip is there. It is mentioned in the homologation document, without which your local RTO will not register your vehicle. I have seen that in some vehicles, the strip is not mounted properly. We have taken up this issue with our concerned supplier already for corrective action.
Let me give you another example. This is what you want, the AC. Personally, I would want it too. I have mentioned time and again that the vehicle is “AC ready”. It is a conscious decision to introduce the vehicle in “AC ready” configuration because please remember that everything finally comes at a cost. As the vehicle is “AC ready”, we have already given you the AC ducts, the AC blower motor, the AC cooling coil housing, an idler pulley in place of the compressor, the cutouts required in the dash panel to incorporate the AC pipes etc. All these parts are already fitted on the vehicle as standard equipment. Their cost is included in the cost of the base vehicle. Now, read carefully. For incorporating the ducts, we gave you the Instrument Panel (IP). We have derived the Thar IP from the Bolero IP. Due to the nature of the windshield of the Thar being what it is (flat) which we did not change because we wanted to essentially retain the outer shape of the classic MM540 vehicle; we have reworked the Bolero IP to suit Thar. You can always say that we could have made a brand new injection molded IP for the Thar but I would like to bring to your notice that a new IP is a capital intensive proposition and runs into crores of rupees and a development time of more than a year. I obviously cannot disclose the actual amount; I can only say that if I had that kind of money, I could comfortably retire for the rest of my life! Even if someone who won “Kaun Banega Crorepati” were to make the IP, the money would not be sufficient. Then, in the end, the vehicle would have had a price tag of much more than 5.99 lakh rupees and you would have again shouted. Alternately, we could have gone for a vacuum formed or a fiberglass IP which you would not have liked either, the finish would have been pathetic. At the other end of the spectrum, we could have gone for making a completely new vehicle for you but then you know the project cost. With that kind of money, my next 7 generations could have retired!
Incidentally, we all know that the vehicle lends itself to modifications very easily (if you can "lift kara de" the whole body, you can do anything. Look at Tejas's red classic. Tejas actually did just that because he did not like the IP on his red classic. I know that he will do it for his Thar too, as soon as he buys it!

. I’ll post a photograph of the panel shortly; it’s lying inside my office for more than a year. But, please remember not to change the instrument cluster. It meets EMI (electro- magnetic interference), which is necessarily required in a vehicle equipped with an ECU.

. What happens to the AC? You can still have the AC with a “hung” blower, remember the old Ambassador? Go ahead and do it if you want! Your car, your call! Now you appreciate why the vehicle is “AC ready”? Thank you.
We are also working on AC as dealer fitment but in this case the IP will not change. Please contact the dealer for more details.
I just now saw a comment on the rear number plate. It is not “someone bent it and put it there as an afterthought” it is a result of a requirement of an 18 degree angle for the light to fall on the number plate. This is a carry-over from the international requirement, so that when it becomes apart of CMVR in India, we don't have to run around. The number plate size is regulated in the current CMVR.
I hope you will now appreciate that a lot of rational thought has gone into doing this vehicle and launching it at the dress level that it is at today. I also feel that I have been able to reasonably put my views across. However, this in no way changes what you want because finally you are the customers.
The critical path is the IP fit and finish and the need for an AC. For obvious reasons, I cannot say more. However, you can be rest assured that our commitment towards success of this vehicle remains rock solid and we shall do everything to ensure that we succeed, because we know that we have a winner on our hands. We
shall give you what you want.
This comment is for the combined 1,11,120 people who have read this thread and the Thar CRDe launch thread.
Best regards,
Behram Dhabhar