Tata Motors Zest now commands a waiting period of up to six months on select variants. In this case it seems like Tata has been caught off-guard by the demand for the new compact sedan. In an interview with a publication Mayank Pareek, president, passenger vehicles business unit said they haven’t been able to meet demand for the car.
Pareek also said the company has sold about 10,000 units of the car since its launch. While this number is not commendable for a product priced between Rs 4.65 - 7 lakh that was launched three months ago, it is strictly a decent figure considering an average of 3,300 units a month for a newly launched product that was introduced just in time for the festive season.
It is available with two engine options - the tried and tested 1.3-litre Quadrajet diesel engine and Tata’s very own 1.2-litre turbocharged Revotron engine which has been developed in-house. Over 3,00,000 hours of research and testing have gone into making the Revotron 1.2T powering the new Zest. The diesel unit will be available in two states of tune - 75bhp/190Nm and 90bhp/200Nm, while the new Revotron petrol mill produces 84bhp and 140Nm of torque.
The petrol is available only with a five-speed manual, the diesel also gets the option of an AMT (automated manual transmission) unit which Tata calls the F-Tronic gearbox and is similar to the one used by Maruti Suzuki in the new Celerio and the Alto K10 hatchbacks. The company also claims there is good demand for the petrol variants of the car.
This is one of the products that the company expected would help revive their flagging sales figures so they should immediately try and address this production issue. The company will soon launch the Bolt hatchback that is essentially the hatchback version of the Zest early next year.
