The upcoming Mahindra Thar 5-door has been undergoing tests for close to a year now, and fresh spy shots reveal an all-new, much larger touchscreen infotainment system. The more practical Thar 5-door will have a lot in common with its shorter 3-door sibling, but the SUV will benefit with quite a few feature add-ons.
- Thar 5-door to get a bigger touchscreen
- To get turbo-petrol and diesel engine options
- Expected to get a single-pane sunroof
Mahindra Thar 5-door to be loaded with features
The 3-door Thar currently comes equipped with a 7-inch touchscreen, while the unit seen on the latest test mule could be around 10 inches or larger, and comes in a completely new housing. Expect it to get wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay among other tech-related features.
Mahindra currently offers touchscreens in various sizes in its SUV line-up, starting with the 7-inch unit on the Thar 3-door, an 8-inch unit on the Scorpio N, 9-inch units on the XUV300 and XUV400, and a large 10.25-inch version on the XUV700.
The 7-inch screen on the Thar 3-door has been criticised for its mediocre interface and display, and also for its relatively smaller size – 8-inch units are pretty much the norm on almost every other mainstream car or SUV. We expect the larger touchsreen infotainment to be added to the Thar 3-door as well at some point in the future.
With the Thar 5-door, Mahindra will be targetting SUV buyers who want a practical vehicle that can be used for daily commutes as well as for off-road and outdoor sorties. Therefore, a longer features list and more creature comforts are expected on the 5-door version. Spy shots have also confirmed that some variants will get a sunroof along with front and rear centre armrests.
Mahindra Thar 5-door launch early next year
The production-spec Thar 5-door with petrol and diesel engines will go on sale only next year, with the brand currently yet to deliver over 2.8 lakh vehicles. The Thar itself has over 68,000 open bookings as of August 2023 and currently garners 10,000 fresh orders every month for the 2WD and 4WD models. Mahindra has confirmed that the Thar 2WD's demand is skyrocketing and it currently has a 15-month waiting period. The more expensive Thar 4WD has around a five-month waiting period at most locations.
Apart from the Thar 5-door, Mahindra is also readying a major update on the XUV300 compact SUV for a 2024 launch. 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.
Image Credit – Charles Naveen
Rivan RS 
Viraaj Bhatnagar
Uday Singh
Suraj Viswanathan
