Mehboob Studios in the heart of Bandra, Mumbai has been a place where many famous Bollywood sequences have been shot. But in 2018, it was also where a company, Classic Legends, relaunched the iconic Jawa brand in India. In subsequent years, they also reintroduced Yezdi motorcycles as well as British marque BSA, whose 1942 BSA 500WM bike was seen in the popular song ‘Yeh Dosti’ from Sholay (1975).
Classic Legends, founded by venture capitalist Anupam Thareja, real-estate developer Boman Irani from the founding family of Yezdi motorcycles, and industrialist Anand Mahindra, has come a long way in five years. But in a market dominated by mass-market 100-150cc motorcycles and also the ‘classic’ segment ruled by Chennai-based Royal Enfield, how has this young firm managed to make a mark?
Thareja claims that Classic Legends has a large order book with exports growing at a healthy pace and that the company is now profitable. This despite the fact that months after the company launched its first product, the world got shut down, thanks to the Covid-19 virus.
‘Neo-classic’
Thareja, who cut his teeth at Royal Enfield, recalled Mahindra’s first ill-fated venture into two-wheelers. Remember the Centuro? “I have known Anand [Mahindra] for a long time and he asked me what he should do to recover the division. And back then, I remember telling him to get into what I describe as the ‘neo-classic’ segment and to revive the Jawa brand. Many years later, when I was in venture capital, and I met Anand again he got me to meet Boman [Irani], life does have serendipitous coincidences,” he told me.
Anand Mahindra, who walked onto the stage to unveil the latest motorcycle from the company, the Jawa 42 FJ, was greeted almost like a Bollywood star, with a horde of camerapersons rushing toward him. But Mahindra is no ordinary industrialist-promoter. As Thareja said, he understands the automotive market as well as marketing intrinsically. The launch of Classic Legends would not have happened without one of Mahindra’s self-described ‘crazy Bawa’ friends, Boman Irani. Thareja said initially the plan was to buy the rights to the Yezdi brand from the Irani family who owned it, but Boman Irani, son of Yezdi founder Rustom S Irani wanted in on the project as well.
Incidentally, there was a legal tussle regarding the Yezdi brand as the former employees and the liquidator of Ideal Jawa, the motorcycle company that made Jawa and Yezdi, fought over who owned the brand, and the case found itself in the Karnataka High Court. According to Indian automotive historian Adil Jal Darukhanawala, who has also authored the book ‘Jawa: The Forever Bike’ on the history of Jawa-Yezdi in India, Boman Irani bought the brand legally in an auction and the dispute is about who the proceeds go to. “Classic Legends owns the brand legally, which is why they’re selling Yezdi motorcycles,” said Darukhanawala.
A Czech icon
The Yezdi name can trace its heritage back to ancient Persia, as it is the name given to those from the Yazd province. In the case of Jawa, it is a different story. It is derived from the name of the company’s founder, František Janeček, and since the first motorcycle was called the ‘Janeček Wanderer’, the first two letters from the words formed the brand name ‘Jawa’. In fact, the Jawa 42 FJ bears the founders initials.
If your father or grandfather rode a motorcycle in India in the 1960s and 1970s they would know the Jawa name, it is a Czech icon. While Irani’s father and uncle started Ideal Jawa in 1961, they were producing Jawa motorcycles under license in a factory in Mysuru with support from the city’s royal family, the Wadiyars. In 1971, with Czechoslovakia (as it was then) stifling under Cold War-era export rules, the Irani brothers modified the motorcycle slightly – with Jawa’s blessings – and started selling the Yezdi brand. But the arrival of highly reliable and efficient Japanese 100 cc motorcycles was a death-knell for the company and it shuttered in 1996, with the rights to Jawa going back to the Czech company.
After meeting Irani, Thareja traveled to Prague, Czech Republic to meet the custodians of the Jawa brand. As per Thareja, the Jawa brand was not interested in giving the rights up, and had been offered “buckets of money” for it in the past. But when Thareja pointed to a picture of Rustom and Farrokh Irani on the wall with the Jawa 250 Type 353, the brand custodians were convinced that Classic Legends was serious.
Fast forward to the present, at the launch of the Jawa 42 FJ, the hall emptied out and automotive influencers started making their video walkarounds as Thareja and I talked about finances. Exports have begun in earnest, in fact the third brand in the company portfolio, BSA, whose 650 Goldstar was launched on 15 August this year, initially started selling only in the UK, where it has won multiple awards. This was due to the fact that the BSA brand in India was owned by Tube Investments of India, part of the Murugappa Group, and Classic Legends has now entered a 50:50 partnership with the south Indian conglomerate.
The ‘made-in-India’ (Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh to be exact) Jawa 42 and some of its variants are exported to Jawa in the Czech Republic, which are then re-exported. “We want to be a global brand, we want to be a highly profitable brand”, Thareja said confidently as he expects sales to climb to 80,000 units this year for the three brands and nine products they currently have. “I think we might slow down the number of launches now,” he joked.
“But the market for classics, or rather ‘neo-classics’ as I call them, a modern, refined and reliable take on classics, is not going away.”
And according to Thareja, it is not just the ‘oldies’ reminiscing their college days who walk into their showrooms. “I think our products are affordable to the serious rider and we get 18-19 year olds walking into our showrooms and riding out with a Jawa or Yezdi. This new 42 FJ starts just under Rs two lakh. I understand people like us like to remember their youth but even Gen Z buyers want these classics.” (I would like to clarify that he is not that old).
And yes, since everyone asks about electrics nowadays, Thareja had an answer prepared for that as well, “We have one ready, it is improving every day and we will launch it when we are ready,” he asserted.
As Classic Legends ramps up production and aims for an Initial Public Offering in a few years, Thareja has built a success story in less than a decade, but the happy ending is still a few years away.
@kushanmitra is an automotive journalist based in New Delhi. Views are personal.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)