Tata Motors had originally offered alloy wheels and 333 maintenance plan as standard on the Zest as part of the introductory offer, making the model an extremely value for money offering.
Launched at an extremely competitive starting price of Rs. 4.99 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi), Tata Motors managed to hit the sweet spot with the new Zest compact sedan resurrecting the company’s fortunes in the market. Well loaded with a host of segment first features on offer, the Zest has been positioned as a value for money offering and is currently the company’s best selling product. Now four months into the launch, the automaker has decided to withdraw some of the features from the Zest which were earlier offered as standard and part of the introductory pricing.
Tata Motors has decided to withdraw alloy wheels from the Zest which were earlier offered as standard. The alloy wheels will now be offered only on the top-end variants with effect from 1st January 2015. Apart from the alloys, the company has also decided to hold back the 333 Maintenance plan on the sedan which entitled the car to 3 years or 45,000 kms of free maintenance, 24×7 roadside assistance and 1,00,000 kms warranty coverage for 3 years.
These features which were earlier part of the introductory pricing will now have to be purchased separately from the dealer. In addition, the excise duty revision will also spike up prices by a good 1-2 percent. Nonetheless, with the price revision as well, the Zest will still remain a competitively priced offering, undercutting the competition on several folds with features like smartphone integration, navigation as well as ABS, EBD and Corner Stability Control offered on the higher variants.
Powering the Tata Zest is the 1.2-litre Revotron petrol engine producing 90 PS and 140 Nm of torque and the 1.3-litre diesel unit producing 90 PS and 200 Nm of torque. Both the motors come paired to a 5-speed manual transmission as standard, while the diesel engine also comes paired to the F-Tronic AMT unit. The automaker has been averaging well over 3000 units in the past months and the same momentum is expected to continue in 2015 as well. With the Bolt launching by the end of January, Tata would want to create a better differentiation between both the products and is likely to offer alloys and the maintenance plan as standard on the hatchback for a limited period.
Source – CarToq
