The Thar was designed to be a rugged, reliable, and affordable off-road vehicle that could handle the rough terrain found in many parts of India.

On March 2, 2018, Mahindra Automotive North America unveiled a variant of the Thar for United States market called the Roxor at its assembly plant in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

Unlike the Thar, the Roxor is not street legal, and is positioned as a side-by-side off-road vehicle with a top speed of 45 mph.

The Roxor is powered by a 2.5 L turbodiesel, four-cylinder engine producing 62 hp and 144 lb-ft of torque, mated to a five-speed manual transmission.

[2]On August 15, 2020, Mahindra introduced the second generation Thar, which was a completely redesigned version of the vehicle, and it became available for sale in October 2020.

It will get a redesigned grille, new LED headlights and tail lamps, 10.27-inch touchscreen infotainment, panoramic sunroof and ADAS as well a dual-tone alloy coating.

The car was penalised for instability of footwell response and for this reason Mahindra was denied the opportunity of demonstrating that sharp structures in the dashboard could prove benign to the knees of differently sized occupants.

Hence Global NCAP penalised the knee areas and the vehicle could not achieve the maximum five star rating for adult protection.

[9] The driver's seat in the Mahindra Thar is high enough for the car to be exempted from this regulation, but Global NCAP required that the test be performed nevertheless.

These seats were not fitted with three-point seatbelts or ISOFIX anchorages and would render the vehicle unsuitable for safely transporting children, which would cause Global NCAP to award the car no stars for child occupant protection.