What makes a lifestyle vehicle? Why India’s market remains niche beyond the Mahindra Thar
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What makes a lifestyle vehicle? Why India’s market remains niche beyond the Mahindra Thar
SUVs account for nearly 57% of India’s passenger vehicle market, but purpose-built lifestyle SUVs and pickups remain low-volume products, with the Thar emerging as the notable exception.
Varun Singh
August 24, 2026 / 08:14 IST
The Mahindra Thar, including the three-door version and the five-door Thar Roxx, sold more than 1.26 lakh units in FY26.
- India’s SUV market is booming, but lifestyle vehicles lag.
- Mahindra Thar leads lifestyle vehicle sales in India.
- Thar Roxx’s success due to reduced compromises.
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India is buying more SUVs than ever before, but that enthusiasm has largely stopped short of a small but distinctive corner of the automobile market — lifestyle vehicles
Built around off-road capability, adventure and a distinct owner identity, lifestyle vehicles such as the Mahindra Thar, Maruti Suzuki Jimny, Force Gurkha, Toyota Hilux and Isuzu V-Cross differ from conventional SUVs designed primarily for everyday urban and highway use. Their rugged construction, higher ground clearance and ability to negotiate difficult terrain are fundamental to their appeal, even though many owners may spend most of their time driving them on regular roads
Yet, the attributes that give these vehicles their lifestyle credentials can also limit their mass-market appeal. Price, size, space, comfort and everyday practicality can require compromises that buyers of conventional SUVs may not be willing to make
That trade-off is becoming increasingly visible in the numbers
SUV volumes in India increased from 23.70 lakh units in FY25 to 26.70 lakh units in FY26, taking their share of domestic passenger vehicle (PV) sales from 54.61% to 56.72%. But the broader SUV boom has not translated into comparable demand for most lifestyle SUVs and pickups
The major exception is Mahindra’s Thar franchise
Sales of the five-door Mahindra Thar Roxx jumped 111.8% year-on-year to 81,746 units in FY26 from 38,590 units in FY25, according to data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). Sales of the three-door Thar declined marginally by 3.7% to 44,515 units from 46,244 units
Together, the two Thar models sold more than 1.26 lakh units during FY26
That compares with just 6,675 units for the Maruti Suzuki Jimny and 522 units for the Force Gurkha. Among lifestyle pickups, Toyota sold 3,751 units of the Hilux, while combined sales of the Isuzu V-Cross and Hi-Lander stood at 303 units
The disparity raises a question for automakers looking at the category: if Indian consumers increasingly want SUV styling, road presence and a higher seating position, why has that appetite not translated into a substantially larger market for vehicles offering genuine off-road and lifestyle capability?
Thar breaks through
The difference between the Thar and other lifestyle SUVs has continued into FY27
During April-July FY27, the Thar Roxx recorded sales of 25,079 units, followed by the three-door Thar at 17,394 units. The Jimny sold 2,091 units and the Gurkha 327 units
The gap is equally stark among lifestyle pickups
Toyota Hilux sales increased 23.9% year-on-year to 3,751 units in FY26 from 3,027 units in FY25. In contrast, combined sales of the Isuzu V-Cross and Hi-Lander declined 15.6% to 303 units from 359 units
During April-July FY27, the Hilux sold 1,020 units, while combined sales of the V-Cross and Hi-Lander stood at just 48 units
For automakers, however, the role of a lifestyle vehicle can extend beyond the number of units it sells
“The Jimny is a lifestyle product. It is adopted as part of the owner’s identity. Lifestyle products compete on meaning, authenticity and capability,” said Partho Banerjee, Senior Executive Officer, Marketing and Sales, Maruti Suzuki India
The Jimny illustrates that distinction particularly well. While the model has struggled to generate substantial volumes in India, it has achieved significantly greater scale as an export product
Maruti Suzuki sells only the five-door Jimny in India but exports both three-door and five-door versions from the country
At nearly 72,200 units, the Jimny was the second-largest PV model exported from India in FY26. Around 27,600 units were exported during April-July FY27
Its export performance means the Jimny programme has achieved substantially greater scale overseas than in the Indian market, despite being manufactured in the country
Toyota also sees lifestyle vehicles as an evolving category where recreational and functional requirements can overlap
“The Hilux is a lifestyle vehicle. We see customers who are very adventurous, and it is an evolving segment. The customers use the Hilux for the weekends. Also, some of the customers are using it functionally for day-to-day usage,” said Sabari Manohar, Executive Vice President, Sales-Service-Used Car Business, Toyota Kirloskar Motor
Mahindra believes the lifestyle pickup market has latent demand, but says consumers currently face a gap between capability and affordability
“It is a compromised choice they make. They don’t have the right product at the right price point. So they are making a compromise either on the capability or the budget,” said Nalinikanth Gollagunta, CEO, Automotive Division, Mahindra & Mahindra
Gollagunta said the latent demand and compromises buyers currently make leave room for Mahindra to participate in the segment
Manufacturers are consequently continuing to invest in lifestyle vehicles despite the relatively modest size of the market
Toyota recently launched the new Hilux, while Mahindra has unveiled the Scorpio Lifestyler ahead of its India launch by April 2027. The fresh product activity indicates that automakers see an opportunity to expand the category even though most existing products remain niche
Usability widens appeal
The Thar’s performance provides perhaps the clearest indication of what could be required to take a lifestyle vehicle beyond an enthusiast audience
According to Gaurav Vangaal, Associate Director, Light Vehicle Production Forecasting, Mobility Global, the Thar’s advantage extends beyond its specifications and off-road ability
“The Thar competes on meaning, not just product. It has been part of the Indian landscape across generations, and that upright stance signals authority whether you see it on a village road or a city driveway. Everything else here is a recent arrival building that association from scratch,” Vangaal said
The Thar, therefore, combines genuine capability with something considerably harder for competitors to reproduce — an established identity in the Indian market
Vangaal said the Jimny’s challenge was not its engineering or capability. Its compact appearance on urban roads, however, limits the commanding presence that influences buying decisions in this space
Lifestyle pickups face a different constraint. Their price points restrict their appeal to a narrower group of enthusiasts or buyers who can justify their functionality
Mahindra has progressively expanded the Thar’s addressable market by reducing some of the compromises traditionally associated with lifestyle vehicles
The rear-wheel-drive version of the three-door Thar lowered the entry barrier, allowing consumers attracted by its styling and identity — but who did not necessarily require four-wheel-drive capability — to buy into the franchise at a lower price point
The five-door Thar Roxx went considerably further by addressing rear-seat access, luggage space and family usability
“The Thar Roxx mattered more. By crossing four metres and adding rear doors and a real boot, it made a lifestyle vehicle defensible as the family car,” Vangaal said
That could ultimately hold the key to whether India’s lifestyle vehicle market can grow beyond its current niche
Traditional off-roaders typically ask consumers to accept compromises in areas such as rear-seat accessibility, luggage capacity, ride comfort or everyday convenience in exchange for ruggedness and capability. Lifestyle pickups can add the constraints of size and price
The Thar Roxx has demonstrated that the potential customer pool can become substantially larger when those compromises are reduced without stripping the vehicle of the identity and capability that made it aspirational in the first place
That is particularly relevant given the wider direction of India’s PV market. Consumers have already demonstrated a willingness to move towards SUVs for their styling, road presence and higher seating position, pushing the category’s share of domestic PV sales to nearly 57%
But the sharply lower volumes of the Jimny, Gurkha, Hilux, V-Cross and Hi-Lander show that the broader SUV boom does not automatically translate into demand for genuine lifestyle vehicles
For automakers, unlocking the category may therefore depend less on simply introducing more capable off-roaders and more on making those vehicles easier to live with
The challenge is to retain the capability, authenticity and identity that distinguish a lifestyle vehicle while reducing the compromises on price, comfort, space and everyday practicality that prevent many buyers from considering one as their primary family car
The success of the Thar — and particularly the five-door Thar Roxx — suggests that when manufacturers manage to bridge that divide, a lifestyle vehicle need not remain a niche product
Varun Singh A journalist covering the automotive sector in depth, across business and product verticals.
Trying to hit the gym at least four times a week! I am not a fitness freak though.
first published: Aug 24, 2026 08:14 am
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Varun Singh
