This was meant to be a test drive. Then Twitter and Reddit turned it into a stand against Mumbai's potholes, the government called Mahindra, and Mahindra pulled it. No award does that.
Every car in Mumbai gets tested on the city's potholes eventually. Usually after you've bought it. Mahindra had just launched the Thar ROXX as 'THE' SUV, and a smooth test drive wasn't going to prove it.
So we used Google Maps and urban planning data to find the worst pothole clusters within five kilometres of a showroom and turned them into the route. Walk in and you get a choice. The standard test drive, or 'THE' Test Drive.
It launched in April 2025 and was picked up by afaqs, LBB and Ads of the World. We never picked the fight. Mumbai did.