Tata Zest diesel AMT rollout in November, likely lag in AMT supply chain

Tata Motors’ latest offering in the compact sedan segment – the recently launched Zest – has received around 25,000 enquiries from customers across India. The carmaker today announced its first 100 customers in the National Capital Region, of which 35 are for the petrol-engined variant and 65 for diesel. The official number of bookings received though will only be announced on September 1.

While initial demand for the diesel variant is higher, the company is optimistic of petrol sales gradually  growing, thanks to international crude oil prices dipping to $ 100 a barrel and the Centre cutting petrol prices twice within a month.

In India, the NCR is a focus market for Tata Motors as it is one of the largest markets (around 24,000 units per month) in the country, accounting for about 10-12 percent of the Indian automobile industry. The compact A3 segment contributes about 22 percent of the total. The carmaker has also upgraded 15 showrooms and 20 workshops in the region with about 250 new sales staff having been recruited to cater to Zest customers. 

The diesel Zest comes with Fiat’s 1.3-litre Quadrajet diesel engine coupled with the F-Tronic technology-enabled five-speed Automated Manual Technology (AMT) with both automatic and sequential gearshift modes. The AMT has been developed in collaboration with Magneti Marelli in Italy, which is also the supplier of the AMT for the Maruti Celerio launched in February this year.

While the petrol Zest comes in four trim levels, the diesel variant has five on offer including the XMA (AMT) version. The AMT variant will be launched in November this year at the close of the festive season, according to Ranjit Yadav, president, Passenger Vehicles Business Unit (PVBU). He added that though the AMT will currently come only with the diesel model, mating it to the petrol engine later cannot be ruled out.

While the company is tight-lipped about demand for the AMT version, Amit Sagar, national sales head (North and West), PVBU, told Autocar Professional that about 20 percent of the current enquiries are for the AMT diesel. Going by this yardstick, Tata Motors is all set to go the Maruti Suzuki (MSIL) way. For instance, Maruti Suzuki India had projected a similar 20 percent demand for the AMT Celerio; ground reality proved to be quite different with demand crossing to over 45 percent for the AMT Celerio soon after its launch. Consequently the waiting period for the AMT Celerio petrol climbed up to 8 months. Though this is now down to 6-7 months, it is still a long way from normalising to 3-4 months. Thus far, the Celerio is not available in diesel.

The basic transmission for the Zest diesel AMT is from Fiat Italy with the AMT kit supplied by Magneti Marelli, with Fiat assembling it thereafter in Italy. Girish Wagh, senior VP (Programme Planning and Project Management), Passenger Vehicles, said that the company has been engaged in talks with Magneti Marelli at the highest level to secure supplies of AMT kits over the past 4-5 months. This became necessary after witnessing the runaway demand for the Maruti Celerio AMT and its long waiting periods.

“We expect good movement for the AMT kits,” said Wagh. But whether Magneti Marelli will be able to ramp up capacity to smoothly supply both the Maruti Celerio and the Tata Zest diesel remains a question mark. The supplier plans to set up an assembly unit for making AMTs at Manesar within a year but till then there is uncertainty about the speedy availability of the automated manual transmissions.

Zest exports to begin in 2015

Meanwhile, Tata Motors will commence exports of the Zest – both petrol and diesel models – in 2015. The focus is the emerging markets of Indonesia, South Africa and Algeria and Yadav says that globally the market for AMTs is not large with automatics more sought after. The carmaker will look at the automatic option of the Zest for the South African market if required.

On the alternate fuel front, a CNG-powered Zest is also on the cards later but Wagh clarified that since the Zest is positioned as a personal car, the company will have to take a call on the CNG variant as that chiefly caters to the commercial market. He is also of the opinion that Europe is experiencing a spurt in demand for AMT-equipped cars.