Classic Legends, the Mahindra & Mahindra promoted manufacturer of leisure bikes under the Jawa brand is planning the addition of the BSA brand along with doubling of dealerships by the end of next year to spruce volumes.
The company claims to have ironed out supply chain issues which has kept it busy since their debut in late 2018 and is now ready to expand sales in tune with reducing the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic.
While the company has three main models – Jawa, 42, and Perak – in its line-up there are plans to get the century-old British motorcycle brand BSA rolling too. However, there is no confirmation about the launch dates for India as yet.
Ashish Joshi, chief executive, Classic Legends said, “We are about to do something with BSA. BSA is a European brand that will make an appearance on those shores first and then come to India. We have not yet finalized on the launch date for India.”
In the meantime, Classic Legends will nearly double its dealerships to 500 by the end of 2022 from around 257 at present. This will help the company to improve its brand reach and boost its retail sales.
“When went into the lockdown we were at 188 dealerships, today we are at 257. And we have projected to grow it to 300 by December and grow to 500 by next year's end. We were more urban-centric with the first 100 dealerships. And then we moved smaller cities from then onwards,” Joshi added.
While Joshi declined to share sales numbers for 2021 but as per retail sales data shared by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association, Classic Legends clocked sales in excess of 11,520 units during April to September period in FY22. Retail sales data does not have sales of four markets – Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Lakshadweep.
While the company said it is positive of surpassing FY21 sales in FY22, the volumes will be still lower than FY20. But a ramp-up in production is being planned and the company is ready to make investments required for making changes to its production plant at Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh, which is owned by M&M.
“The production plant that we have can cater to the expansion of distribution. The factory needs X number of outputs. But will you need multiple additions to that from testing, paint shop standpoint, and others? Yes, of course, and those investments are planned well in advance. So, we are on that investment spree,” Joshi added.
With its 300cc engines, Jawa competes against the Royal Enfield models like Meteor 350 and Classic 350, Honda H’Ness CB350 and CB350RS, and the Benelli Imperiale 400 in its segment.
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