Auto Expo 2014: New TVS Scooty Zest preview

Not to be confused with Tata Motors new compact sedan, TVS Motor Company’s new Scooty Zest is actually a grown up, full-fledged scooter. The Scooty has been TVS's most successful scooter brand, and till TVS rolled out the Wego a few years back, it alone helped TVS Motor ride the rising wave in scooter sales. The Scooty has always been the two wheeler of choice for young girls, and for the right reasons. It was light and smaller than the rest of the range. And with a timid power delivery, it was one of the easiest scooters to ride across all makes. Then, it came with colour options which young girls found very endearing. Apart from the regular reds and blues, the Scooty was also offered in pink and lavender and a striking shade of orange.

The TVS Scooty Zest, on the other hand, comes across as a lot more mature. It is now heavier and more powerful. And, it has also grown in size. As Far as colours go, TVS hasn't announced specific colours for the scooter yet, but it will continue to be offered - in TVS own words - in vibrant colours. The electric blue display colour of the new Scooty Zest at the Auto Expo 2014 clearly previews the sam

The new Scooty Zest is an all new design, but you still won't mistake the scooter to be anything but a Scooty, especially from the front. The front apron design is an evolution of the Scooty Pep's design and while the headlamp is larger and more contoured on the Zest, it still manages to remind you of the Pep. The Scooty Zest does look strikingly different from the side and rear three-quarters. The boomerang shaped side panel, in particular, is a very attractive design element. We also like the LED tail lamps.

As we mentioned earlier, the Scooty Zest has grown in size compared to the Scooty Pep, which has resulted in a larger footboard, longer and wider seat and a bigger under seat storage area. The underseat storage at 19 litres is the largest in its class, claims TVS. This extra size and space is because of the Zest being based on the Wego. It uses the same underbone chassis, the same wheelbase and it also gets the Wego's front telescopic forks. Surprisingly, the Scooty Zest hasn't adopted the Wego's larger 12 inch wheels. It still runs 10 inch ones like the Pep. And, the reason for that could be to keep the seat height in check, besides pricing, of course. But, at least the tyre uses a more modern profile - it's 90/90 x10 instead of the 3.00 x 10 used on the Scooty Pep.

Apart from the size and weight, the Zest also boasts of a bigger engine. This one is the same 110cc CVTi unit from the Wego. TVS hasn't shared the power or torque details for the engine yet, but what it has categorically stated is that the Zest will be fuel efficient. TVS claims a real world fuel economy of 62kmpl. And to get to this figure it has made significant improvements in three areas - ignition, cooling and weight saving. To improve cooling, the Zest runs new ducting from the front of the scooter targeted at the engine. And in slow, stop-and-go traffic where the air flow is limited, it runs an electric fan to handle the cooling duties, while in terms of weight saving, the plan is to use magnesium wheels.

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The new Scooty Zest will debut later this year. And like the Pep, it too will continue to target young girls (no wonder the vibrant colours and the 10 inch wheels continue). TVS also claims when launched, the Scooty Zest will sport an array of new and exciting features along with perfect ergonomics and comfortable seating. Let's hope the Zest delivers because the competition in the female/student centric scooter segment has become quite intense already with the Honda Activa i and Yamaha Ray holding fort and scooters like the new Suzuki Let's ready to attack.