Tata Zest

The new Tata Zest Revotron takes on its fiercest rivals. But does it have what it takes to withstand the onslaught?

The Tata Zest is the newest entry into the red-hot compact sedan segment. Dominated by the Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire - which is frequently India’s largest selling car, and the Honda Amaze and the Hyundai Xcent - which are both capable in their own ways - the Zest does have some really tough competition. Can the newest Tata on the block have enough to take on the established players? Read on to find out. Exterior Styling / Design: Although all four cars have been designed keeping government policies for small cars in mind, each manufacturer has gone about it differently. On the whole, the Honda Amaze might look a little plain, but it does have the most balanced design of the lot. The add-on boot fuses in well with the rest of the car as compared to the rather notch-like Swift Dzire or even the Hyundai Xcent to a degree. The Tata Zest on the other hand certainly looks most striking, especially when viewed from the front with its daytime running lights, its aggressive projector headlamps and its honeycomb grille. The Dzire does seem to look a little aged as compared to the other more modern cars while the Xcent’s rear could certainly do with a...read more »

The one without any airbags scored zero!

Global New Car Assessment Program (Global NCAP) is a UK based company that performs crash test for new cars. Apart from testing vehicles from various markets around the world, it has also put several cars from India to the test. The latest crash test was done for two models of the Tata Zest - the one without airbags and the one with two airbags. The standard non-airbag variant scored zero for adult occupant protection and one star for child occupant protection. Since Global NCAP offers all car manufacturers to test another version of the same car, the same opportunity was given to Tata Motors. The home-grown automaker introduced a structural improvement to the entire Zest range while Global NCAP tested the new version with optional dual airbags. The dual airbags version with two pretensioners performed considerably well. Together with the seat belt reminder for the driver, the sub-4 metre sedan from Tata scored an impressive four-star rating for adult occupants. Tata also selected other child restraint systems for the airbag version, which improved the child occupant safety to two stars. On this achievement, David Ward, secretary general of Global NCAP said,... read more »

The compact sedan helps Tata Motors attempt a record in the Asia Book of Records

The carmaker has launched a special edition of the Tata Zest to celebrate its first anniversary in the country