The next battle ground is for the 5-door off-roader with both Mahindra and Maruti bringing their own products in this space. We expect Maruti to bring the Jimny 5-door first with a debut at the Auto Expo 2023 while Mahindra will reveal the 5-door Thar later but both could enter at the same time to the market.
While we get the 3-door Thar here, India will not get the 3-door Jimny as instead we will straight get the 5-door version developed for India.
The India-spec 5-door Jimny will get the new 1.5l petrol engine also seen on the XL6, Brezza and the new Grand Vitara while the Jimny will also share gearbox options in form of a 5-speed manual and a 6-speed auto.
That is a big change as globally the Jimny has been available with the older 4-speed automatic. India spec Jimny 5-door will also get a bigger 9-inch touchscreen with latest features too including connected car technology and more. It will be a premium SUV and positioned above the Grand Vitara along with being sold via Nexa outlets.
The Thar 5-door will also get many changes over the 3-door with new body panels but the front design will be the same as the 3-door Jimny as well. Engine wise the Thar 5-door will retain the diesel and petrol engines too with 2.0l turbo petrol along with a 2.2l diesel.
However, like the Jimny 5-door, the 5-door Thar will have four doors and that will mean a longer wheelbase for more space along with more boot capacity as well.
Both these 5-door off-roaders will come with a low-range 4x4 system for off-road and the Jimny will be the first Maruti to have this feature and is not to be confused with the Grand Vitara with its AWD system.
Hence, if you are looking for a practical 5-door SUV with off-road ability then we say wait till next year!
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