The Mahindra Thar is a compact,

four-wheel drive Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer ca ...

off-road Off-roading is the activity of driving or riding in a vehicle on unpaved surfaces such as sand, gravel, riverbeds, mud, snow, rocks, and other natural terrain. Types of off-roading range in intensity, from leisure drives with unmodified vehicl ...

SUV A sport utility vehicle (SUV) is a car classification that combines elements of road-going passenger cars with features from off-road vehicles, such as raised ground clearance and four-wheel drive. There is no commonly agreed-upon defini ...

manufactured by Indian automaker

Mahindra and Mahindra Mahindra & Mahindra Limited (M&M) is an Indian multinational automotive manufacturing corporation headquartered in Mumbai. It was established in 1945 as Mahindra & Mohammed and later renamed as Mahindra & Mahindra. Part of the Mahindra Group ...

Ltd. __TOC__

Mahindra MM 540 DP (1985-2005)

Mahindra MM 550 (1995-2005)

Mahindra Legend

First generation (2010)

The vehicle was launched in the

Indian market The Santa Fe Indian Market is an annual art market held in Santa Fe, New Mexico on the weekend following the third Thursday in August. The event draws an estimated 150,000 people to the city from around the world. The Southwestern Association for ...

on October 4, 2010 to fill the void left by its predecessor, the Mahindra MM540. The Thar has been voted one of the top-10 SUVs available in the Indian market. Three variants - DI 2WD, DI 4WD, and CRDe, are available with soft-top versions. The Thar also comes with a seven-seater option, though it can be converted into a two-seater.

Mahindra Roxor

On March 2, 2018, Mahindra Automotive North America unveiled a variant of the Thar for United States market called the Roxor at its assembly plant in

Auburn Hills, Michigan Auburn Hills is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 21,412 at the 2010 census. Before incorporating as a city in 1983, the area was part of the now-defunct Pontiac Township. It is home to Oakland Universi ...

. It is assembled from

complete knock-down A knock-down kit (also knockdown kit, knocked-down kit, or simply knockdown or KD) is a collection of parts required to assemble a product. The parts are typically manufactured in one country or region, then exported to another country or region ...

kits. Unlike the Thar, the Roxor is not street legal, and is positioned as a side-by-side

off-road vehicle An off-road vehicle, sometimes referred to as an overland or adventure vehicle, is considered to be any type of vehicle which is capable of driving on and off paved or gravel surface. It is generally characterized by having large tires with d ...

with a top speed of 45 mph. The Roxor is powered by a 2.5 L turbodiesel, four-cylinder engine producing 62 hp and 144 lb-ft of torque, mated to a five-speed manual transmission. An automatic transmission is available as an option. It is only available with two seats, a 148-inch body length, and a 96-inch wheelbase.

Second generation (2020)

The second generation Thar was unveiled on August 15, 2020. It became available in October 2020. It comes with two engine options, a 2.0-litre petrol and a 2.2-litre diesel. Both are offered with a choice of 6-speed automatic transmission (with a

torque converter A torque converter is a type of fluid coupling that transfers rotating power from a prime mover, like an internal combustion engine, to a rotating driven load. In a vehicle with an automatic transmission, the torque converter connects the pow ...

gearbox) made by

Aisin is a Japanese corporation that develops and produces components and systems for the automotive industry. Aisin is a Fortune Global 500 company, ranked 359 rankings. Aisin is a member of the Toyota Group of companies. Aisin was founded in 1965 ...

or 6-speed manual transmission. Customers have the option to choose between a hard top, soft top or soft top with convertible like folding down mechanism.

Safety

Global NCAP The Global New Car Assessment Programme (Global NCAP) is a project of the Towards Zero Foundation, a UK-registered charity. The programme aims to promote the sale of safer cars in developing markets by empowering consumers with objective info ...

crash-tested the second-generation Mahindra Thar in its basic safety specification of two airbags and ISOFIX anchorages in 2020 (similar to

Latin NCAP The Latin New Car Assessment Programme (Latin NCAP) is an automobile safety assessment programme for Latin America and the Caribbean. Founded in 2010, it offers independent information to consumers about the safety levels of new cars in the ...

2013). It achieved four stars for adult protection, with its passenger compartment remaining stable in the offset frontal test. However, its footwell ruptured during the test. The car was penalised for instability of footwell response and for this reason Mahindra was denied the opportunity of demonstrating that sharp structures in the dashboard could prove benign to the knees of differently sized occupants. Hence Global NCAP penalised the knee areas and the vehicle could not achieve the maximum five star rating for adult protection. Nevertheless, Mahindra requested an ECE side impact test for the Thar, in which the car passed this basic test despite not being fitted with side airbags. The driver's seat in the Mahindra Thar is high enough for the car to be exempted from this regulation, but Global NCAP required that the test be performed nevertheless. However, since the Thar lost crucial points in the frontal impact, the side impact had no influence on the result. The Mahindra Thar was sold in a basic trim level with side-facing rear seats. These seats were not fitted with three-point seatbelts or ISOFIX anchorages and would render the vehicle unsuitable for safely transporting children, which would cause Global NCAP to award the car no stars for child occupant protection. Global NCAP warned Mahindra to withdraw this variant of the Thar from the market, failing which they would publish a result of this basic variant in addition to the tested variant. Global NCAP only agreed to publish the result of a variant with forward-facing seats after sales of the basic variant were stopped, making forward-facing seats the basic specification for the model. Mahindra also requested Global NCAP to test the Thar's optional

electronic stability control Electronic stability control (ESC), also referred to as electronic stability program (ESP) or dynamic stability control (DSC), is a computerized technology that improves a vehicle's stability by detecting and reducing loss of traction ( skiddi ...

. The model met minimum performance requirements for yaw rate in the UN's test with a steering robot, but it showed unstable dynamic behaviour with tendency to roll, and Global NCAP recommended an improvement, to deliver a more robust performance in real-life scenarios. The Thar is not fitted with side impact airbags for the body or head, even as an option.

References

External links

Mahindra Thar
Jeep platforms Thar Cars introduced in 2010 ATVs Compact sport utility vehicles Off-road vehicles Global NCAP small off-road 2010s cars {{modern-auto-stub