Jawa was reintroduced in the country on November 15 last year by Classic Legends, a company where
Mahindra & Mahindra has 60 percent stake. Classic Legends had bought the rights to use the Jawa brand in India in 2016.
Classic Legends started with two launches, Jawa and Jawa Forty Two. Following an unanticipated surge in demand the company had to abruptly close bookings on December 25 last year but promised to deliver the bikes before September end this year.
A failure to deliver the bikes on the committed dates will draw a penalty of Rs 500 a day to be paid to the customer.
"A total of only three consumers were paid the penalty. Every other buyer of the Jawa got the delivery on the promised date" said Anupam Thareja, Founder, Classic Legends.
Thareja, however, did not reveal total bookings the company received for the two bikes though he stated that the model Jawa Forty Two got more bookings than Jawa.
"We did go wrong in anticipating the demand which was much higher than what we expected. Making buyers wait for 10 months is never a good thing. We had to increase production to deliver the bikes on time," added Thareja.
Thareja was talking to the media on the sidelines of launching the Jawa Perak, the third model by the company.
Named after a mysterious World War II rider in Czechoslovakia who challenged the German forces, Perak is the costliest of the three models priced at Rs 1.94 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi). Powered by a 334cc, single-cylinder four-stroke engine, the Perak makes 30hp of peak power.
The Perak will be eventually sold through a network of 110 dealers in 85 cities but not before April 2, 2020. The company has rather opted to wait for Bharat Stage VI fuel to be made available because the existing BS-IV fuel could adversely affect the Perak's engine.
This time, bookings will be opened in gaps of three months for the Perak, which is better than the earlier two models. This was possible because the company set up a new production line independent of the other two models.
"We have had booking cancellations but the numbers were very small," said Ashish Joshi, CEO, Classic Legends in response to a Moneycontrol query on whether the long waiting period had led to any order cancellations. He, however, did not reveal any further details.
The general slowdown may have added to the reasons behind the cancellations given that volumes of rival Royal Enfield were down by 17 percent in the July-September period.
Classic Legends has the brand and manufacturing rights for two more European bike brands Yezdi and BSA. While Yezdi will come to India, Thareja said BSA will most likely be a western brand with focus on the UK and its neighbouring countries.
