Mahindra’s ICE range will get two major models this year as a part of its plans for 2024. Both were highly anticipated and now official timelines have been announced. The two cars- the XUV300 facelift and a five-door version of the Thar will both lead the ICE charge and are expected to be volume spinners for the automaker this year.
XUV300 facelift
The XUV300 facelift had been some time in the making and will see the car get a new interior, feature list but retain the same powertrain combination. The latter comprises a 1.5-litre diesel while the petrol options are a turbo-charged 1.2-litre petrol and a 1.2-litre GDi turbo petrol which is offered, at present, exclusively in the Turbosport trim only. In terms of volumes, this will be the more important car of the two for Mahindra as it is their competitor for cars like the Maruti Brezza, Tata Nexon, Hyundai Venue, Kia Sonet and Maruti Fronx.
The automaker has officially said that it is already ramping down production of the current car in anticipation of the new model which will arrive in Q1 of FY25. We expect a marginal price hike for the new car over the outgoing model.
Five-door Thar
While the XUV300 will be the volumes model, the five-door Thar will be Mahindra’s second attack on the lifestyle segment to take on cars like the Maruti Jimny and Force Gurkha. It had been some time in the making and has been spotted testing all over the country multiple times. Spy images indicate that the cabin will move up a notch over the three-door model but it will make use of the same underpinnings, powertrains and overall design elements.
The launch date has been confirmed for Q2 of this FY and Mahindra has said that the car will get dedicated production capacity in anticipation of good demand and to also keep the waiting period low. We expect a price hike of around Rs one lakh over the three-door Thar.