Mahindra looks to add five-door Thar production capacity by 4,000 units per month

Mahindra looks to add five-door Thar production capacity by 4,000 units per month

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) announced plans to build additional capacity for producing upto 4,000 units per month of the five-door version of the Thar SUV. Named Thar Roxx, the lifestyle SUV will be rolled out on August 15 and is estimated to be priced from Rs 15 lakh onwards.  Upon its launch, it will compete with the Force Gurkha and the Maruti Suzuki Jimny.

"We are creating an additional 3,000-4,000 capacity per month for the five-door Thar over and above the total capacity that we have planned," Rajesh Jejurikar, Executive Director & CEO (Auto and Farm Sector), M&M Ltd. He revealed that the company still has an order backlog of 40,000 units of the 3-door version of three-door Thar.

Dealer sources have revealed that the Thar Roxx will be offered with the same engine options as its three-door avatar, which include a 2.2-litre diesel and 2.0-litre petrol variants. Both engines are likely to be offered with 6-speed manual and 6-speed automatic transmissions. The five-door Thar will also be rolled off the same production line at Nashik, Maharashtra.

When acknowledging that there will be some cannibalisation between three and four door versions of the model due to overlapping of price points, he maintained, “We have factored that in while creating capacities. That is something we have to adjust and respond to after the launch and see how the mix play out together. But we believe that the portfolio will grow together.”

At a broader level, the company is planning a total exit capacity of 64,000 units per month for the current fiscal, including for XUV 3XO/400 as well as electric vehicles. Jejurikar revealed that the FY25 exit capacity includes an increase of 5,000 units in SUV capacity (THAR 5D, XUV3XO/4OO) and 10,000 units per month capacity for electric vehicles.

For the next financial year, M&M stated that it has planned a total manufacturing 72,000 units per month, which includes an additional 8,000 units capacity per month for EVs in the next fiscal.

Meanwhile, M&M revealed that its total open bookings as on July 1 stood at 1.78 lakh, units including 55,000 for XUV3XO, 42,000 for Thar (including rear wheel drive or RWD), 13,000 for XUV700, 8,000 for Bolero and 58,000 for Scorpio-N.

“We have seen 10 per cent cancellation per month in the bookings as well. On an average, the (existing) Thar along with XUV300 have a waiting period of about 8-10 weeks,” noted Jejurikar.  He also stated that the price cut undertaken by the company would not significantly impact its financial going forward, adding, "We expect volumes to grow, which will get us operating leverage."

During the April-June quarter, the total volume stood at 2.12 lakh, of which UV (utility vehicle) portfolio accounted for 1.24 lakh units.

M&M on July 31 reported a 20 percent year-on-year jump in net profit at Rs 3,283 crore in three months to June, with the automotive segment's consolidated PAT (profit after tax) climbing 35 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1,330 crore (excluding previous year's gains on KG Mobility) and consolidated revenue growing 16 per cent to Rs 19,776 crore.

(With inputs from PTI)