The Zest, Tata Motors' new compact sedan and its first product under the 'Horizonnext' strategy, has a waiting period of up to six months for some of its variants.

The long waiting period for Tata Zest variants can be attributed to a supply constraint from some of the vendors and an inadequate production capacity. "The fact of the matter we are not able to produce as much as the market needs. Supply is much lesser than demand," says Mayank Pareek, president, passenger vehicles business unit, Tata Motors told our sister publication, Autocar Professional. The carmaker is also in the process of increasing production of its compact sedan. Pareek says, over 10,000 units of the Zest have been sold since its launch in mid-August. The company is also seeing stronger demand for the petrol variant of the Zest.

Pareek was speaking at the company's quarterly results press conference in Mumbai. Tata Motors has reported a 6.5 percent growth in its consolidated revenue. and a 7.1 percent drop in profit after tax during the July-September 2014 quarter compared to the same period last year.  The company's revenue stood at Rs 60,564 crore, while its profit after tax was Rs 3,291 crore. The company says that weak operating environment in the standalone business was more than offset by an increase in the wholesale volumes, richer product mix and market mix at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR).   

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