After recently being unveiled, the new Force Gurkha goes on sale officially. The new Force Gurkha is priced at ₹13.59 lakh ex-showroom. The newly-launched Gurkha rivals the Mahindra thar in the Indian market, and deliveries will begin October 15, 2021.
Apart from the price, most details about the new Gurkha were revealed a few days ago when Force motors unveiled the SUV. The new Gurkha gets a new grille that has the ‘Gurkha’ badging instead of ‘Force’, gets all LED lights, fender-mounted turn indicators, updated bumpers, and larger rear windows. The overall design is identical to the older generation model, however, the new Gurkha complies with the new crash test safety norms.
Inside, the new Gurkha gets more creature comfort compared to the old one. There is a 2-DIN touchscreen system with smartphone connectivity (Android Auto and Apple CarPlay), power windows, and a new dash. The Gurkha gets all four front-facing seats and captain seats for the rear, USB charging sockets, tilt and telescopic steering, and a snorkel.
Safety features include dual airbags, ABS with EBD, rear parking sensors, cornering lamps, ISOFIX child-seat anchors, and a tyre pressure monitoring system. The Gurkha complies with the latest Indian crash safety norms, however, despite having captain seats at the rear, it only gets lap-style seat belts.
Moving to the engine, powering the Gurkha is a Mercedes-sourced 2.6-litre diesel engine, capable of 91 bhp and 250 Nm of torque. The engine is mated to a 5-speed manual gearbox, while it also has a part-time four-wheel-drive option with a low-transfer gearbox. What gives the Gurkha an edge over the new Thar is the front and rear manual differential locks and a water wading capacity of 700 mm compared to 650 mm on the Thar.