Mahindra & Mahindra has silently relaunched the Thar AX in the Indian market, claims a Team-BHP report. The AX base variant of Mahindra Thar was discontinued last year in November in the country. Now, Mahindra Thar AX has been listed in the price list of a Dehradun based company dealer which indicates that the brand has started taking orders for it again. Just so you know, 2020 Mahindra Thar has received a thunderous response in India with more than 50,000 bookings already recorded till date while the company hiked the prices of the SUV a few days back.
As per the leaked document, Mahindra Thar AX price for the 6-seater soft top version with a petrol engine and manual transmission is Rs 10.68 Lakhs while its diesel counterparts cost Rs 11.53 Lakhs (Both prices are Ex. Showroom). The Thar AX is the only variant which comes with bench seats at the rear and offers 6-seater configuration as standard. However, it was removed from the website in November 2020 when Mahindra had to deliver the Thar to the Global NCAP for crash tests and safety rating as the apex body for cars safety regulations tests only the base variant of a vehicle. Instead, the LX variant with a hardtop was tested by Global NCAP and it received a 4-star safety rating.
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It is being claimed that if Mahindra reintroduces the entry-level AX variant, the SUV might lose its 4-star safety rating by the Global NCAP. However, when we reached out to Mahindra on this latest development, the company's spokesperson officially said, “This is to clarify that the bookings for AX 6-seater variants have been stopped since November 2020 and have not been reintroduced.” So, if the base AX trim is at all relaunched in India, it will first undergo safety tests by Global NCAP which subsequently will nullify the 4-star rating received by the LX variant. Meanwhile, in other news, the company is working on a 5-door version of the SUV which is expected to go on sale by mid 2023.