KOCHI: If booking numbers are anything to go by, yesteryear's retro classic brand Jawa could unseat Kerala's largest selling two-wheeler brand Royal Enfield.
Resurrected by Classic Legends Pvt Ltd, Jawa has received one of its largest share of bookings from the state. So huge is the response that the company is on the verge of closing out bookings for the year, said Anupam Thareja, co-founder of Classic Legends.
"We have received an overwhelming response from the state, with the majority of customers falling in the 23-29 age bracket. Large number of bookings has come from cities like Kozhikode and Kochi. We will be engaged in fulfilling current orders till the end of October," said Anupam. He was speaking at the inauguration of the brand's second dealership in the state in Kochi on Thursday. The first one was opened in Thiruvananthapuram.
Jawa first entered the Indian market in 1961 as a joint venture with then Czechoslovakia-based Jawa Ltd. Later sold under the Yezdi brand, the motorcycles enjoyed a cult status along with Royal Enfield and Rajdoot till the late 1980s.
Jawa will roll out seven dealerships in the state and will have 100 dealerships across the country by April. "We will have the most extensive dealership network for a new motorcycle brand in India and are in the process of scaling up our production facilities in Madhya Pradesh to meet the potential demand," said Anupam.
He said Jawa bikes are probably the first BS VI-ready motorcycles in the country and can be made easily compliant to the new emission norms that will come into effect from April 2020. "Since we already use advanced mechanics like fuel-injection and oil-cooling for our engines, we can upgrade to prescribed emission norms at a minimal cost," Anupam said.
Pitted directly against the Royal Enfield's Classic series, three models of the brand - Classic-styled Jawa, retro-styled Jawa 42 and factory custom Jawa Perak - were launched in November at a price tag of `1.64 lakh, `1.55 lakh and `1.89 lakh (ex-showroom), respectively.
The deliveries to pre-ordered Jawa and Jawa 42 will begin on March 1. "As to the production of the Jawa Perak in June-July 2019, the exceptionally high demand for the Jawa & Jawa forty two has now pushed the start of production for the Perak to later this year as the focus now is on commencing deliveries of the Jawa and Jawa forty-two. Bookings for Perak might commence around September 2019," he said.