Mahindra Jawa, the reincarnation of an old Polish motorcycle popular in the 1960s through the 80s, has been sold out till September 2019, company officials said, promising that the bike will be launched “soon”.
“We are sold out till September 2019 based on the production capacity we have planned and the bookings we have had,” said Mahindra & Mahindra MD Pawan Goenka at an interaction with analysts. “We will be launching this vehicle soon,” Goenka added.
However, the MD refused to give an exact launch date for Jawa motorcycles in India. However, it is expected to hit the streets sometime next month.
He also refused to give an idea of how many units will be produced every month.
Its biggest competitor and market leader Royal Enfield produces about 70,000 motorcycles per month.
With Jawa opening its booking late last year, Royal Enfield has already seen a dip in its growth levels. Sales fell 6% in October-December period of last year, and were down 7% in January at 72,700 units.
Jawa, and its later avatar Yezdi, used to give tough competition to the ‘Bullet’, the most popular of Royal Enfield’s models.
Together, they made up India’s retro-look motorcycles and commanding loyalty and love from their dedicated fans.
While Enfield had a beefier, taller stance, Jawa had a more relaxed look in keeping with the traditional cruiser pose.
Jawa was also the lighter and more manageable bike. With its dual exhausts, the bike had a signature sound, just like Royal Enfields came with their own signature sound.
Keen to tap in the surging demand for retro-look motorcycles in India, Mahindra bought the rights to the Jawa brand as well as some of the related engineering designs.
It appointed an Italian design team to recreate the bike, but with modern trappings and compliant with new emission norms.
The new Jawa bikes will come in two variants — Classic and 42.
The Jawa Classic, which will make liberal use of chrome like the old model, maintains all the key ratios of the original model, including the slightly lower seating position and will be priced at Rs 1.66 lakh.
The 42 model, which seems to be what the company plans on selling in higher numbers, also maintains the key ratios and triangles, but has some ‘updates’ on the original design.
It has a different seating position, a different handle, different handling and different colors, and looks more like the Bullets than the classic Jawa model. Jawa 42 is also cheaper than the classic version at Rs 1.55 lakh excluding RTO levies.
The bikes are powered by a 293cc twin-cam liquid-cooled, single-cylinder engine that outputs 27 BHP, compared to about 20 BHP for Royal Enfield Classic 350.
The front tyres are 18 inches in diameter and have a width and height of 9 cm each, while the back tyres are bigger at 19 inches and a width of 11 cm and height of 9 cm.
These tyre dimensions are 1 inch smaller compared to the Bullet, but the back tyre is wider.