Zest – the new compact sedan (earlier known as Tata Falcon 5 and Manza CS) is the real hope of Tata Motors to regain its lost sales. Zest will take on the mighty Maruti Dzire and Honda Amaze. Zest will be powered by new 1.2L Revotron turbo petrol engine developing 100bhp. However the big surprise would be Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) that will be mated with the Tata Zest turbo petrol engine. Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) is now quiet popular as Maruti introduced it in the celerio. Ever since the Maruti announced celerio Ez-drive (AMT), there are speculation that Tata would soon get the AMT in its vehicle. Maruti is working italian technical partner magneti marelli which in turn was a Fiat’s subsidiary. Tata is already having many joint ventures with Fiat.
Tata zest will be india’s first sedan to come with automated manual transmission (AMT). AMT is nothing but a regular manual transmission which changes gears with the help of ECU. You will get the normal gearbox. The AMT uses manual shift patterns at the gear lever but without the physical input for the clutch. While ECU will take care of thee clutch the gear shifting will be taken car by the driver. By relieving the driver from engaging and disengaging the clutch, the stress of driving through stop-start traffic is also reduced considerably