Zest impact: Tata puts booking of Bolt hatchback online for Rs. 11,000

Tata Motors on Monday launched online bookings for its upcoming hatchback Bolt to turnaround its domestic passenger vehicle business.

Interested customers can book a Bolt online at bookonline. tatamotors.com by making a payment of ₹ 11,000. The Bolt is the second brand-new product that the car maker is launching following the Zest compact sedan that was launched in August.

The company is yet to reveal a launch date for the car, but the launch of online bookings suggests that the launch is not very far away.

"Officially we are not announcing a launch date for the Bolt yet. We have said earlier that it will be launched in the current financial year, so it will be sometime in January-March quarter," a company spokesperson said.

Deliveries of the Bolt will be on first-come-first-serve basis so customers who pre-book could be possibly able to avoid any rush after launch.

The Bolt will compete with the likes of Maruti Suzuki Swift and Toyota Etios Liva among other hatchbacks and analysts expect it to be priced around ₹ 4.2-4.3 lakh ex-showroom.

The Zest compact sedan, Tata Motors first new launch in over four years, has been selling around 3,500 units per month with wait-list on some variants stretching to almost six months.

The Bolt, although based on Tata's Vista platform, has been given a new look and engine. It will be available in both petrol and diesel variants.