Force Motors is gearing up to introduce the five-door Gurkha SUV in the Indian market. While the SUV had been spotted testing earlier, we’ve now got our hands on a set of photos showing the Gurkha five-door’s interior. Going by these spy pictures, the vehicle appears to be production ready.
- Gurkha five-door to get multiple seating options
- Expected to rival five door Thar, Jimny
- Likely to get 4X2 variant as well
Force Gurkha five door: first look at the interiors
The Gurkha five-door has quite a lot of bits in common with its three-door sibling, even on the interior. It retains the dark grey dashboard and most of the equipment also seems to be being carried over, including the manual AC and touchscreen infotainment system. Even the layout for the centre console and front power window controls is similar.
Sources tell us that the Gurkha five-door will come with multiple seating layout options, including a bench seat or captian’s chairs for the second row, as well as opposite-facing jump seats or captain’s chairs for the third row. Previous spy pictures of the five-door Gurkha show jump seats in the third row, while it was also earlier spied with captain’s chairs in both second and third rows.
The pictures here show the SUV with a bench seat in the second row and captain's chairs in the third row. The three-door Gurkha comes only as a four-seater with captain's chairs for the second row.
Force Gurkha five door: engine, off road gear and powertrain
The Gurkha five-door will be based on the Gurkha three-door’s updated C in C platform and is expected to have a 400mm longer wheelbase. It will also carry over the Mercedes-sourced 2.6-litre diesel engine and will come mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox. It is likely that the Gurkha five-door will come in 4X4 and 4X2 variants, with the former helping Force Motors to price the SUV more aggressively. The model you see here is the 4X4 version, as is evident from the prominent 4X4 badging and the transfer case near the gear lever.
The five-door version of the Gurkha SUV is expected to get the same off-road gear as the Gurkha three-door, including the low-range gearbox and locking differentials.
Force Gurkha five door: launch timeline and rivals
Force is expected to launch the Gurkha five-door in the coming months. While it won’t have any direct rivals at launch, it will see competition from the Maruti Suzuki Jimny five-door, which is expected to debut at the Auto Expo, and the five-door version of the popular Mahindra Thar that will debut sometime in 2023.
Also see:
from Autocar Indiahttps://cdni.autocarindia.com/ExtraImages/20221021010405_Story_final.jpg
