Tata Motors unveils Bolt and Zest, AMT transmission

  • Feb 3, 2014
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New revamped Tata Motors' hatchback and compact sedan promise to infuse energy into the underperforming Indian carmaker

Tata Zest

Tata has overhauled the Vista and Manza and introduced two new future products in the Bolt hatchback and Zest sub-4 metre compact sedan to co-exist with them. The Indian carmaker will launch these two products in the second half of FY2014-15. While both cars are based on the existing X1 platform, the major ingredients of the car are all new which includes the engine, suspension, gearbox (the automated manual transmission in the Zest), interiors and electronics.

The form of both cars might be the same but are thoroughly redesigned. Tata Motors has unveiled a new design language with the two cars called ‘Designext’. Both were co-designed at Tata’s Pune headquarters, their Design house in Coventry, UK and Turin in Italy. The Bolt and the Zest get a new signature grille and more rounded and sportier styling. The interiors have received a complete revamp with premium features like the 5-inch touch-screen Harmann infotainment system with satellite navigation, Bluetooth, voice recognition and text to speech and phone enabled navigation.

Tata Bolt

Both cars will sport the new 1.2-litre Revotron engine. This engine in its current state of tune will offer 85PS of peak power and 140Nm of peak torque. The Zest compact sedan gets a new ‘F-Tronic’ Automated Manual Transmission mated to the 1.3-litre quadrajet 90PS diesel engine. This is a first AMT in the country in a diesel car and follows closely on the heels of the first AMT ever on a petrol car in India in the Maruti Celerio.

The two new cars will get a new electronic power assisted steering to replace the hydraulic unit. Tata has also improved suspension from the Vista and Manza duo. The front suspension is all new and the rear has been tweaked considerably to give a more pliant ride. Girish Wagh, Senior VP Programme Planning and project management, Tata Motors says that Tata has benchmarked several European hatchbacks that are on sale in India as these cars are known for their fun to drive character and quality ride. The suspension soaks up undulations better, he says, and filters noise better too into the cabin.  A new ABS system has been developed with Bosch to improve cornering stability.

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