Mahindra May Unveil The Thar 5-door In South Africa On August 15!

• The Thar 5-door will reportedly break cover in South Africa on August 15. 
• Will be based on the Mahindra Scorpio N’s architecture and get a revised rear suspension.  
• To get new features such as a sunroof, 8-inch touchscreen infotainment and possibly dual-zone climate control from Scorpio N. 
• Should offer 2.2-litre diesel and 2-litre turbo-petrol engine with a bit more power. 
• May get a different name when it goes on sale. 

Many online reports suggest that Mahindra will take the wraps off the Thar 5-door in South Africa on August 15, 2023. It must be noted that when we requested Mahindra for confirmation, the company refused to comment. Hence, the news of the Thar 5-door breaking cover this year is still speculative. 

Yes, the Thar 5-door breaking cover sooner than expected is great news indeed. However, it must be noted that the SUV marque had clearly said earlier the larger off-roader will go on sale in India only in 2024. 

The Thar 5-door is basically a larger version of the existing three-door SUV, which is extremely popular in the Indian market. Its wheelbase and overall length have grown in size to accommodate the extra set of doors that tremendously improve the practicality of the SUV. It also gets a couple of distinguishing design touches such as redesigned 5-spoke alloys. 

Also Read: 5 Things The Mahindra Thar 5-door Gets Over The Smaller 3-door Model

The SUV would also get plenty of changes underneath the skin as it could be based on the Mahindra Scorpio N’s platform instead of the altered three-door version’s architecture. The main advantage should come in as a better safety score since the Scorpio N scored a full five stars in the Global NCAP safety test compared to the Thar 3-door’s four-star rating. Also, the larger SUV was spotted with a revised rear suspension that should improve ride quality. 

On the inside, the Thar 5-door’s dashboard layout and design, as per spy shots, is exactly the same as the three-door model. However, it could get revised features such as the 8-inch touchscreen infotainment system and probably dual-zone climate control from the Scorpio N. But one feature we can confirm that the Thar 5-door will get is a sunroof as seen in this report. 

The Thar 5-door is expected to get the existing 150PS 2-litre turbo-petrol and 132PS 2.2-litre diesel engines from the smaller three-door model, likely with a bit more power. We suspect it will be offered with both two-wheel-drive and four-wheel-drive. And as for the transmission options, it should get both the six-speed manual and six-speed torque converter automatic.

As we mentioned above, the Thar 5-door will go on sale in India in 2024, possibly in Q1 2024 and could get a different name to stand out from the smaller SUV. And we suspect its pricing to start from around the Rs 15 lakh mark (ex-showroom). It will lock horns with the upcoming Force Gurkha 5-door while being a larger alternative to the Maruti Suzuki Jimny.