In a year, Mahindra Thar receives 75,000 reservations

 The Mahindra Thar has received 75,000 orders since its introduction a year ago, making it the country's best-selling four-wheel drive vehicle, according to the firm. However, the SUV's continued popularity, combined with an industry-wide chip scarcity, has resulted in long wait times for popular versions.

The Mahindra Thar has had 75,000 bookings in a single year; the company has sold around 30,000 Thars; and waiting times in hard top mode are approximately 16 weeks for petrols and 50 weeks for diesels.

Waiting times for Mahindra Thar

Mahindra has disclosed that millennials account for more than 40% of Thar bookings, which is consistent with the company's branding of the second-generation SUV as a leisure vehicle as well as a tough off-roader.

Despite the fact that the petrol engine, which debuted on the new Thar, has done well, accounting for 25% of the order bank, the diesel powertrain continues to account for the vast majority of customer orders. This is evident in the estimated delivery times, with the hard top, diesel manual, and automatic trims having a 48- to 50-week wait, as opposed to the hard top, petrol manual, and auto trims, which require a 10- to 16-week wait. Notably, Thar convertible top variants are more widely accessible, with dealerships estimating a 22-23 week wait period.

Almost half of Thar buyers choose automatics, which have a somewhat higher wait time than their manual counterparts.

Since the new Thar's release in October of last year, Mahindra has sold almost 30,400 vehicles (until end-September 2021) and has approximately 45,000 orders waiting.

Details about the Mahindra Thar engine-gearbox

The Mahindra Thar comes with two engines: a 132hp, 2.2-litre diesel and a 152hp, 2.0-litre petrol. While the base AX Opt level comes with a 6-speed manual transmission, the top-spec LX trim comes with a 6-speed automatic transmission.

Regardless of version, the Thar comes standard with a four-wheel drive system. Customers can also select between a convertible soft top and a hard top.

Competition for the Mahindra Thar has now arrived in the form of the new Force Gurkha, which, unlike the Mahindra, is only available in diesel manual version.

To broaden its appeal, Mahindra has also approved the manufacturing of a 5-door variant of the Thar, which will be available in the future years.