With the onset of the new Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Program (BNVSAP) safety norms in the country, the beloved off-roader SUV Mahindra Thar can no longer be registered in any RTO of the nation as Thar does not comes with basic safety features that the new rules mandate.
Therefore, the company is planning to bring an all-new version of the lifestyle SUV Thar to India in 2020. However, few reports on the internet are doing rounds that suggest that the UV maker will bring a special edition of the Thar and will equip it with Anti-Lock Braking System, which is one of the safety features that the new BNVSAP rules mandate.
However, there is no news on the fact that whether the company will also add other safety features that have been made compulsory with every sale under the new safety rules that were enforced from April 1, 2019. The other features that have been mandated under the new safety rules are driver-side airbag, reverse parking sensors and speed alert system. The reports do state that the special edition Thar will also see some styling changes that may include new decals, altered interior, added features, and a set of alloy wheels. Mahindra Thar is currently offered with a 2.5L CRDe turbo diesel engine that is rated tto produce 105 Bhp and 247 Nm, the diesel engine comes paired with a 5 speed manual transmission that drives the rear wheels. A 4WD transfer case with low ratio is also standard on the Mahindra Thar. The special edition is supposed to have no changes on the mechanical front.
The prices for Mahindra Thar are Rs. 9.49 lakhs, ex-showroom Delhi. The special edition variant will come with a premium of around half a lakh rupees. With the expensive CRDe version, the affordable DI version of the Mahindra Thar will also face discontinuation. However, the company is likely to bring the affordable version for the next generation Thar as well, because the sales of the DI version of Thar have been a lot higher than the CRDe version. There are hopes that the next-generation Thar’s affordable model will come with the same 2L diesel engine that the pricier version will come with, but the affordable version’s engine will be heavily detuned.
Now that the new safety rules have come into play, it is only a matter of time before more and more details about the 2020 Mahindra Thar emerge. The lifestyle SUV has already been spotted during testing in India.