The Zest Created A Good Image For Tata: Girish Wagh, VP, Tata Motors

One of the most innovative products in the Indian automobile industry is the Tata Nano. A small and affordable car, aimed to be a best seller in the entry-level segment in India. Unfortunately, the Nano did not do as expected, and the very reason for making the Nano became its downfall.

Read Now: Tata Zica First Drive Review

Ever since the Nano failed to become a bestseller, Tata Motors has been constantly developing new vehicles. The Tata Zest was a fine product, which again, failed to meet expectations, followed by the Bolt hatchback.

Now, however, Tata Motors is back with a bang, by coming up with the Tata Zica, and present at the unveiling was Tata Motors' Senior VP, Program Planning and Management (passenger cars), Girish Wagh.

The Zica is a fine car by all means, but DriveSpark had a few questions, and this is what Girish Wagh had to say in an exclusive interview.

Will the Tata Zica get an AMT?

Automatics will penetrate into the Indian market and below a particular price point, Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) is a very good value proposition. Tata Motors will soon introduce AMT across most of its variant, and currently, the Zest and the GenX Nano do come with AMTs.

The point with the Zica is that Tata Motors has come up with a totally new product, in terms of design, platform, and powertrains. So we need that to be fully appreciated and understood in the market first. When a lot of new things are introduced in a car, most of it is lost or goes unnoticed due to a lot of factors. We want the Zica to get stabilized and appreciated in the market first, before bringing the AMT version of the Zica.

In terms of time frame, we do not have a particular one. We are constantly looking at customer demands, requirements, response, and feedback before deciding.

When you mentioned that when a lot of new things are introduced in a car, most of it is lost or goes unnoticed, is that what happened to the Zest?

No, the Zest has created a good image in the Indian market. We wanted the Zest to change the way customers look at Tata Motors and achieve a significant market share in that segment, and the Zest has done exactly that.

The following on products from the Zica will be based on a different platform. There were a lot of skepticism and perception when the Zest was launched since many thought the car was nothing different from older Tata products. Now, however, that is slowly changing, and every new product that Tata will come up from now will slowly change that perception further, adding to our benefit.

Will there be a compact sedan based on the Zica?

We now have a very capable platform on which the Zica is built on. It meets current and future safety norms. Tata Motors will make full use of this platform to bring in newer models and products.

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