Jawa Motorcycles Is Making A Comeback Thanks To Mahindra!!
Time for Classic Motorcycle fans to rejoice! Mahindra & Mahindra has announced the acquisition of the legendary motorcycle brand, BSA and also exclusive Brand License agreement with another iconic legendary brand, JAWA. Mahindra 2 Wheelers (M2W) has been around for some time now, but has not been able to make a big impact on the 2 wheeler market. On the bigger front, Mahindra & Mahindra is on a buying spree, has a long list of brands under its umbrella. They acquired a lot many brands in the auto sector, including Kinetic, SYM, Ssangyong, Pininfarina, Maini (Reva), Peugeot motorcycles and now BSA motorcycles, to name a few.
M&M has setup a new division called Classic Legends, that will do business for BSA & Jawa. BSA has been reportedly bought for around Rs. 28 crores, a brand that goes back to 1910, when it was established in Great Britain. With BSA under its kitty, Mahindra has a very fair chance to explore the classic premium motorcycle market, currently ruled by Royal Enfield, which also happens to be a legendary British brand.
On the other hand, the Licensing agreement with Jawa from Czechoslovakia brings further joy to its fans here. This legend entered our markets in 1960 and was built by Ideal Jawa at Mysore, which later turned into the classic brand Yezdi. Jawa and Yezdi brand have a very strong following even today here in India, with a lot of their fans still riding the classic motorcycles. There are a lot of Jawa-Yezdi riding clubs spread across the length and breadth of the country. This announcement of the legendary brand re-entering India has spread lot of joy amongst its fans, who now see a bright future for their motorcycles.
We spoke with Kaustubh Thengodkar, probably one of the biggest collector of the Jawa-Yezdi classic motorcycles models, ranging from 1959 to 1989 and member of mostly all the Yezdi Jawa Clubs to know his reaction. He said this is a very good move and was more than happy that at least someone thought of getting the Jawa brand into India. He added, that M&M must have done a lot of study before going into this agreement, and hopes that they will get the Rotex engine Adventure motorcycles into India, which would be affordable to service at Mahindra outlets.
Manufacturing under Licensing has been done here previously too. Automobile Products India (API) got the Lambretta/Lamby scooters, LML did the same with Vespa, Maruti got Suzuki here, Hindustan Motors did it with Contessa and Premier got Fiat cars built here. We are sure this news of the two legend brands entering India has gone down very well with a lot many aspiring buyers who want to own a piece of classic history combined with modern day reliability. Mahindra plans to set up all-new dealerships for the two classic brands and would take at least two years to hit the market.
Also Read: 14th International Jawa Yezdi CZ Day 2016
