Mahindra & Mahindra to launch 'Thar' soon

Mahindra & Mahindra India are yet again venturing in the SUV segment with their off road vehicle, Thar. The vehicle will be a revamped version of the Commander Jeep which was phased out from the Indian roads in early 2000.

As per the officials from the company, it is expected that the Indian auto maker will price the SUV revised version at around 7 lacs and if the grapevines are to be believed, the Commander Jeep will be launched in Rajasthan and Kerala approximately by next month.

The Commander Jeep, Thar has been on the South African roads for two years, and is priced for 9.5-10 lacs.

From a long time a need of a retro style vehicle was felt which made Mahindra India to develop a four wheeler to launch in the domestic market.

As per the industry sources, the Jeep will be retro style vehicle and will attract the mass crowd especially the youngsters and Jeep fanatics. The revamped Jeep will be coming in two variants, the soft top model and hard top model.

But when asked about the launch of the revamped Jeep, the company's top executive refused to comment as they are not allowed to disclose any of the future plans of the company.

The Mahindra Thar, a revised version of the Commander Jeep 5 (CJ5) will come with improved features and suspension. It will offer better ground clearance to run on tough road conditions. The Jeep will be powered with 2.5 litre CRDi diesel engine.

Abdul Majeed, auto practice leader at PwC commented that these vehicles are in great demand due to its retro feel among the Indian SUV lovers. He said, BMW is likely to launch its Mini in the domestic market while the Volkswagen Beetle by the German auto giant is already making its mark and Mahindra India will surely find a great market for its SUV in the Indian auto market.

Mahindra & Mahindra India is planning to manufacture the revamped version of Thar on the same platform of Mahindra Scorpio at the Kandivili unit in Mumbai and expects to sell as many as 5,000 Jeep in a year.

In the Indian auto market, Mahindra & Mahindra currently sells vehicles including Mahindra Bolero, Mahindra Scorpio and Mahindra Xylo.

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