PV Sindhu, Sakshi Malik get customized Thar from Mahindra

Sakshi Malik and P.V. Sindhu made India proud by winning the Bronze and Silver medal respectively at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Competing in the 58 kg freestyle, Sakshi is the first woman to win a medal in wrestling for India at the Olympics. On the other hand, P.V. Sindhu became the first ever Indian badminton player to reach an Olympic final.

Proud of their achievement, Mahindra’s head honcho, Mr Anand Mahindra announced on Twitter last month that they will be gifting a brand new customized Mahindra Thar SUV to India’s Olympic Heroes. Today, Mahindra delivered on their promise.

New Mahindra Thar gets beefier bumpers, reprofiled grille and bonnet, flared wheel arches, tweaked side sheet metal design, new foot boards on the sides and a redesigned exhaust pipe. We can also expect new alloy wheel design (accessory) and hubcaps.

Speaking about the new Thar, which was launched in India recently – it gets a mildly revised exterior while changes are even more comprehensive on the inside. 2016 Thar ditches its dated dashboard design of MM540 era for a modern and upmarket look with dual-tone color theme, silver accented steering wheel borrowed from Bolero and a new triple pod instrument console. The upright centre console carries ‘Thar’ branding and silver AC vents. Gear lever, cup holders and AC controls are new too.

Mahindra Thar employs a 2.5-litre DI diesel engine dishing out a modest 63 bhp and 195 Nm of torque or a Scorpio-derived 2.5-litre CRDe diesel engine outputting 105 bhp and 247 Nm of torque. Both motors are mated to a 5-speed manual transmission which drives the rear wheels.

This article first appeared on Rushlane.com