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2025 Mahindra Thar five-door Jeep Wrangler look-alike to get crucial safety tech, may get greenlight for Australia - report

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Mahindra Thar five-door render (Image: Thanos Pappas)
Laura Berry
Senior Journalist
25 Jun 2024
3 min read
5 Comments

Indian automotive giant Mahindra will equip its upcoming new five-door Thar off-roader with advanced safety tech according to Autocar India, possibly paving the way for the Jeep Wrangler look-alike to get the green light for Australia.

Mahindra is yet to officially confirm the five-door Thar’s arrival timing in India but when it does debut it’s expected to be named the Armada and take its place above the three-door Thar already on sale.

According to a report by Autocar India higher grades in the Armada range will get ADAS2 (Level 2 Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) safety tech such as AEB, lane keeping assistance and blind spot warning.

That might be enough for Mahindra in Australia to consider bringing the new Armada here where Australian Design Rules mandate brake assist systems and manufacturers are expected to provide vehicles which score high in ANCAP’s crash rating system.

Currently, the three-door Thar sold in India has no advanced safety technology such as AEB and even stability control is only offered on some variants.

The upcoming five-door version of the Thar will be underpinned by a new ladder frame chassis and is likely to be powered by the same 2.2-litre diesel four cylinder engine found in the Mahindra Scorpio large SUV and a 2.0-litre petrol four-cylinder from the XUV700 mid-sized SUV. A smaller 1.5-litre diesel may also be offered in an affordable entry level grade.

CarsGuide contacted Mahindra to learn more about the possibilities of the Armada coming here, but has yet to hear back.

Jeep’s owner Stellantis has long taken issue with the design similarities.
Jeep’s owner Stellantis has long taken issue with the design similarities.

Mahindra currently sells the Scorpio, XU700 and S11 Pik Up four-wheel drive ute in Australia. If the Armada joins them it will take on rivals such as the Jeep Wrangler and Suzuki Jimny.

If you were wondering how Mahindra is able to circumvent copyright restrictions with the design of its Thar being so similar to Jeep’s iconic Wrangler, the answer is murky. Mahindra claims it had a licensing agreement to produce Willys Jeeps in the 1940s and from there the design evolved into the vehicles it sells today.

Jeep’s owner Stellantis has long taken issue with the design similarities, but lost a court case in 2023 in the United States to block Mahindra from selling its look-a-likes.

In Australia, Stellantis was successful in blocking the sale of the Thar because of the design similarities and unless the Armada five-door version looks much different than the three-door then the court ruling could prevent the vehicle being sold here even if it meets local safety standards.

Laura Berry
Senior Journalist
Laura Berry is a best-selling Australian author and journalist who has been reviewing cars for almost 20 years.  Much more of a Hot Wheels girl than a Matchbox one, she grew up in a family that would spend every Friday night sitting on a hill at the Speedway watching Sprintcars slide in the mud. The best part of this was being given money to buy stickers. She loved stickers… which then turned into a love of tattoos. Out of boredom, she learnt to drive at 14 on her parents’ bush property in what can only be described as a heavily modified Toyota LandCruiser.   At the age of 17 she was told she couldn’t have a V8 Holden ute by her mother, which led to Laura and her father laying in the driveway for three months building a six-cylinder ute with more horsepower than a V8.   Since then she’s only ever owned V8s, with a Ford Falcon XW and a Holden Monaro CV8 part of her collection over the years.  Laura has authored two books and worked as a journalist writing about science, cars, music, TV, cars, art, food, cars, finance, architecture, theatre, cars, film and cars. But, mainly cars.   A wife and parent, her current daily driver is a chopped 1951 Ford Tudor with a V8.
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