Why the Thar should continue to be a niche brand

There’s no doubt the Thar has been an absolute hot seller. Over 1.70 lakh units of the new-generation Thar have been sold so far, and this year, close to 30,000 units were delivered. That’s an average of 6,000 per month for what is a niche-segment vehicle. While this is good news for the bean counters at the head office, it’s far from ideal for the marketing men. 

Let me explain. Initially, the Thar was lapped up by off-road enthusiasts and the well-heeled seeking a lifestyle addition to their garage. It was a niche off-beat vehicle looked upon with interest by those around, akin to a sportscar. 

Now, however, it’s moving more mainstream. And, unfortunately, besides becoming too common a sight on our roads, thanks to its fun and wild image, there’s all manner of fun and wild things being done with it. A lot of it is crass, some even illegal. And that’s not the kind of image you want for a brand with such strong equity. And certainly not when you want to take it further up the ladder. 

We’ll soon have the 5-door Thar above this one and then an electric version, which will be positioned higher still—not only because of expensive batteries but also because it will be built on a new monocoque platform and have a lot of techy and upmarket features. With this expansion into the higher rungs, the Thar moniker would do well to preserve some of that special and coveted aura. It shouldn’t sell like a mass-segment vehicle. How do they do this? Perhaps by doing away with lower variants or even controlling production. I had written before that they didn’t need the 3-door 4x2. I don’t know the details of the model’s financial viability, but it surely wasn’t a pressing problem—not with the high level of component commonality with others in the range and with the 5-door coming in, too.

I know you could argue otherwise, too, but Mahindra is a company growing in stature. And with the Scorpio and XUV700 going great guns and even the Bolero being a massive cash cow, Mahindra doesn’t need another volume product. And so, the Thar can ideally be preserved as an iconic brand, one that can pull in revenues through fat margins rather than mega volumes. So then, while folks buy Mahindras based on each individual model’s merits, they would also buy them because they’re from ‘the makers of the Thar’.