- Spotted with an automatic transmission

- Expected to be launched later this year

The Mahindra Thar has been around for well over two years. And now with the five-door Maruti Suzuki Jimny revealed at the recently held Auto Expo 2023, Mahindra has also started developing the five-door version of the Thar. Spotted on numerous occasions on test runs, this time around the interior images of the test mule has been leaked on the internet.

Now, the five-door Thar will have more space in the second row, courtesy of the longer wheelbase. Furthermore, the prototype was spotted with an automatic gearbox without a long-range gearbox. The absence of the latter hints at probable testing of the 2WD or rear-wheel-drive iteration of the elongated Thar. Recently, Mahindra launched the 2WD version of the three-door Thar which is available in both petrol and diesel powertrains.

Besides this, the cabin looks familiar to the outgoing model. It follows a black theme with a touchscreen infotainment system, circular aircon vents, a height-adjustable driver seat, and a hard top.

The current Thar comes with two engines – a 2.0-litre petrol and a 2.2-litre diesel engine. The former produces a punchy 150bhp while the latter is good at 130bhp. Meanwhile, the recently launched 2WD Thar makes use of the same petrol powertrain and a smaller 1.5-litre diesel motor from the XUV300 which puts down 117bhp and 300Nm of peak torque and is mated to a six-speed manual gearbox.

When launched, we expect the five-door Mahindra Thar to carry forward the same set of engine options as on the existing three-door Thar.

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