Here comes Anand Mahindra’s blueprint for revival of Jawa brand.
Mahindra and Mahindra’s two-wheeler subsidiary Classic Legends launched three Jawa-branded motorcycles in India this week, reviving the defunct Czech brand.
Spearheaded by Classic Legends founder Anupam Thareja, and a stake from Boman Irani of Rustomjee Group, whose family originally brought the brand to India, this undertaking is Mahindra group’s latest foray into the two-wheeler business.
Q & A with Anand Mahindra
Q. Through your subsidiary Classic Legends, you are going to handle multiple brands under one company, which is often a difficult task. How do you plan to manage that?
AM. One of the biggest growth areas, or rather an imperative, for any B2C (Business to Consumer) company in the future, will be how they build experiences into their brands. Every company is trying to transform into an experience-based company, even Airbnb. They know they cannot just survive by giving rooms anymore, they need to give experiences.
From that point of view, the idea is that if we get that core expertise of building experiences, I think the job of managing multiple brands gets easier because ultimately our core expertise will be experiences.
That’s a very theoretical answer but I know that every company in the world that is a B2C company is worrying about this.
Q. Reviving old brands is a difficult job. What makes you sure that you have got it right this time?
AM. What I think bike business, especially this niche business requires – that recipe we finally have. We have a story, a history, and a brand – and an authentic one. And we have the knowledge and the passion from Anupam. He was instrumental in resurrecting the Enfield brand.
Be authentic. Be true to the brand, for which Boman is there to help us – understanding what the DNA of the brand is. We will bring everything that Mahindra can bring to bear in a corporate garage to make sure that this is not like a start-up starved of facilities and people.
We have a BSA brand it will be with Classic Legends.
Peugeot is a brand that we are turning around in France.
A look at Jawa’s glorious journey
The big two giants in India were Enfield and Jawa motorcycles. The rough, tough, rugged bikes tested and proven in multiple battlegrounds in the World War.
Will Jawa now recapture its following and marketshare in India against the immensely popular, successful Royal Enfield?
Jawa Company is now coming back to India after 57 years. Jawa was introduced in India in 1961 post-World War 2 establishing a factory in Mysore marketing Jawa under the “Yezdi” brand name.
Classic Legends Private Limited, a subsidiary of Mahindra and Mahindra, revived the classic Jawa brand by launching three Jawa motorcycles in India.
The bikes are named the Jawa, Jawa Forty Two, and Perak.
Jawa and Jawa Forty Two will be launched first and should be available by early next year. The Perak, which is a factory-custom job, will be launched later.
Priced at rupees Rs 1.55 lakh for the Forty Two, Rs 1.64 lakh for the Jawa and Rs 1.89 lakh for the Perak, these motorcycles are in the mid-priced segment that Royal Enfield has dominated for the past decade, even as the latter is diversifying its portfolio to include more premium motorcycles with higher engine capacities.
Founder of Jawa Motorcycles Frantisek Janecek was born on 23-Jan-1878 in a small village in Bohemia in modern day Czech Republic. After studying mechanics in Prague from Berlin College of Engineering he went on to establish the Jawa Motorcycle.
During World War 1, Janecek developed a flurry of designs – patenting over 60 inventions.
His son Karel took over the business after his death in 1941. Jawa was nationalized in 1948 merging with CZ to form a single brand Jawa-CZ.
VIDEO: https://youtu.be/tFaiJcDQaE0
News at: https://auto.economictimes.indiatimes.com/videos/a-look-at-jawas-glorious-journey/66653756
–Wayfarer
wayfarer@bikernet.com
