Zest delivery delays disappoint Tata Motors president

Earlier this month, we reported that Tata Motors was not producing enough units of the recently launched Zest compact sedan to keep up with the high demand, which resulted in some variants of the car having a waiting period of 6 months. This was due to supply constraints from some of the vendors and an inadequate production capacity. Mayank Pareek, President of Tata Motors' Passenger Vehicle Business Unit, is reported to be disappointed over this long delivery period.

Pareek, who left Maruti Suzuki in September this year after serving the company for more than two decades, said, "This is not the way. These are golden opportunities", when asked about the long delivery period. Pareek also revealed that the company under-estimated the customer expectations in terms of variants and that Tata Motors should have managed supplies better.

The company is making efforts to ramp up production and is also talking to vendors to increase supplies of components. Tata Motors is planning to push sales of the Zest in rural markets as well.

The Zest is a rival for other sub-four metre sedans in the market such as the Maruti Suzuki Dzire, Honda Amaze and Hyundai Xcent. It is a very important product for Tata Motors as it is one of the cars that the company is looking at to revive its fortunes. If the company is unable to give the car to the customer when he wants it, Tata Motors could end up losing him to other manufacturers.     

Source: ET Auto