In a bid to bring back in the headlines, Tata has launched two new variants of slow selling compact sedan Zest with 75PS diesel mill. Launched in August 2014, Zest was initially launched with three powertrains- 74bhp diesel, 89bhp diesel and 89bhp petrol. The sedan is available in six variants- XE, XM, XMS, XMA, XT and XTA, till now the base XE variant is available with 74bhp motor.
Now XM and XMS variants also get 74bhp motor replacing the 89bhp as it is now available only on XMA, XT and XTA. In addition, alloy wheels are only offered with high end XT and XTA trims of the Zest, earlier all the variants are available with the alloy wheels.
Available in the price range between Rs. 5.06-8.51 lakhs (ex-showroom Delhi), it was launched in the compact sedan segment category to take on the likes of Maruti Suzuki Dzire, Honda Amaze, Hyundai Xcent and Ford Figo Aspire etc.
Just to remind you, it is powered by a 1.3 Quadra jet diesel mill with two states of tunes- one is 74bhp and 190Nm while another is 89bhp and 200Nm torque. The petrol segment is held by a 1.2l Revotron petrol engine that belts out 89bhp power and 140Nm of peak torque.
When launched, it was the first compact sedan to have an automated manual transmission (AMT) which grabbed the attention of the buyers; however it failed to made any impact on sales as it stands on fourth or fifth spot in the segment. We still not get it why these changes have been made though it might be a new strategy to keep the cost and avoid any price hike.
