Mahindra Thar now ships without touchscreen infotainment

As we know, Mahindra Thar is facing supply chain issues due to high demand. Now, there are images floating around online, of a 2020 Thar at a dealership without the touchscreen infotainment system. What has changed?

The touchscreen infotainment system will now be installed at a dealer level, but there is another issue. The dealerships themselves are not receiving the necessary parts to install the touchscreen infotainment system. And so, deliveries of the Thar are slowing down. As per reports, the shortage of touchscreen infotainment systems is because of the lack of microprocessors. Mahindra is not the only one who is facing issues with the microprocessors though. Worldwide, the auto industry is currently facing a shortage of chips.

Also read: Buying a pre-owned Mahindra Thar is better than buying a new one: 5 reasons

There are many customers who are waiting for Thars, but their vehicles are currently parked at dealerships. But the dealerships cannot deliver the vehicle, as the touchscreen infotainment screen has to be fitted. They cannot hand over the SUV without the infotainment. Due to this, the waiting period for Thar has increased by a month. So, customers now would have to wait for 10 months for the 2020 Thar. The shortage of microprocessors or semiconductors has also forced a manufacturer like Ford to stop the production temporarily at their Chennai plant. The insufficiency of microprocessors is expected to continue to the next quarter also. So, it seems unlikely that the issue of long waiting periods will be solved any time soon.

Microprocessors are widely used in vehicles such as automatic headlamps, rain-sensing wipers, tyre pressure monitoring system, instrument gauges, parking sensors, infotainment system and other electronic units. Mahindra decided that infotainment system can be installed at the dealership level because it is one of the easiest equipment that the dealership can fit without much hassle. However, manufacturers are trying their best to counteract this issue by turning to alternative suppliers so that the production delay can be reduced. As of now, there is no time frame specified about when the required necessary parts will be shipped to the dealerships so that they can finally deliver the vehicle to the customers.

Speaking of Thar’s touchscreen infotainment system, it comes with Android Auto, Apple CarPlay and Adventure Statistics that is specific for the Thar. It shows you various information such as a compass, a roll-pitch meter and an altimeter. It also shows the tyre pressures of all the four tyres from the tyre pressure monitoring system. If you have the manual gearbox variant, then you will also get Mahindra’s Ecosense system that shows the efficiency figures. Mahindra Thar is offered with two power train options. There is a 2.0-litre Stallion turbo petrol engine and a 2.2-litre mHawk diesel engine. The turbocharged petrol engine produces 150 PS of max power and a peak torque output of 300 Nm with the 6-speed manual gearbox and 320 Nm with the 6-speed torque converter automatic gearbox. The mHawk diesel engine produces 130 PS of max power and 320 Nm of peak torque. It is also offered with a 6-speed manual gearbox or a 6-speed torque converter automatic gearbox. Currently, Thar is only offered in two variants namely, AX Opt and LX. Mahindra Thar starts from Rs. 12.10 lakhs and goes all the way upto Rs. 14.5 lakhs ex-showroom.

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