Force Motors launches its extreme offroader – Gurkha

Force Motors launched the Gurkha which they call the world’s first E.O.V (Extreme Offroader Vehicle). The looks of the two door Gurkha are largely unchanged and you can still see that Force Motors has not walked away from its obvious design inspiration – the Mercedes G Wagen. There are marginal updates which are visible mainly to the headlamps (which are circular now) and the front grille and bumper. Force Motors has also added roof racks to the Force Gurkha, a chrome finish snorkel and the same alloy wheels which we saw on the Force One, which is an attempt to make it look jazzy. Air-conditioning and power steering comes as standard equipment. Access to the rear seats isn’t bad as you have to fold the front passenger seat to get there. All that said, the interiors aren’t top-notch and that’s what the company needs to work on.

The Gurkha is powered by the 2.6-liter Mercedes OM616 derived turbo charged intercooled engine. It produces 81bhp and has a torque of 230 Nm@1800-2000 rpm. Mated to a 5 speed synchromesh transmission with Hi-Lo option on transfer case, the Gurkha has differential locks on both front and rear axles, which makes it a capable off-roader. Force Motors has only launched the BS-III compatible variant which cannot be sold in metros like Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai or even Bangalore. Although Force Motors has promised that the BS-IV compatible version will be launched soon. The Gurkha 4x2 Soft top is priced at Rs. 6.25 lakhs while the 4x4 gets a price tag of Rs. 8.35(soft top) and 8.50 lakhs(hard top) (ex-showroom Delhi). The Mahindra Thar with the 105bhp CRDe engine costs an entire lakh less than the Gurkha which means that Force Motors has to really work hard to sell this product.