Classic Legends, the company under Mahindra & Mahindra which owns Jawa Motorcycles, has announced that it has stopped all production operations in the country in view of the ongoing corona virus outbreak. Owing to this, deliveries of the new Jawa Perak will be delayed by an unspecified period. The company initially planned to commence nation-wide deliveries of the single-cylinder bobber on 2 April 2020.
The Indian automotive industry has been hit badly by the pandemic. Many states have announced complete or partial lockdowns and automotive business is witnessing losses in the range of Rs 1,500 crore with each passing day! The outbreak came at the same time when dealerships were desperately trying to clear off leftover BS4 stock ahead of the deadline, 1 April 2020. Considering the present confusion, the deadline could be extended.
Image – Jawa Ahmedabad
Classic Legends shares that it had faced difficulties ever since the initial COVID-19 outbreak in China affected the supply chain. Due to an overwhelming waiting list for Jawa products, the company had to use the imported components as and when they arrived to build new units. Hence, there is a negligible inventory to continue production.
On the bright side, the situation is getting better in China and businesses are gradually opening. At the moment, there is a lot of uncertainty on the extent of the lockdown in various states of India. Once there is more clarity, the company will share an update on the delivery timelines of the Perak as well as the ‘Jawa’ and 42 units (now in BS6 format) that were supposed to reach dealerships in February and March 2020.
Ashish Singh Joshi, CEO of Classic Legends, stated that these are unprecedented times and the company prioritises customer, client and staff safety over everything else. He also added that the production facility in Pithampur will hit a capacity of 10,000 units per month once the situation is normalised. In other words, the current delay in deliveries comes ahead of significantly shorter delivery times. It is also to be noted here that Jawa has never shared their sales numbers or their booking numbers, ever since the brand was launched back in Nov 2018.
The Jawa Perak is powered by a 334cc liquid-cooled single-cylinder engine that makes 30bhp and 31Nm of torque. The ‘Jawa’ and 42, on the other hand, employs a smaller 293cc version of the block that is good for 27bhp and 28Nm. Both engines come mated to a 6-speed transmission.
Prices for the BS6 avatars of the Jawa 42 and Jawa ‘Jawa’ start at about Rs 1.60 lakh and Rs 1.73 lakh, respectively (for the single-disc variants). The top-of-the-line Jawa Perak bobber comes at a starting price of Rs 1.94 lakh. All figures mentioned here are ex-showroom.
Source: Bike - rushlane.com
