Anand Mahindra confirms India-spec Jawa reveal in 2018

Anand Mahindra has steadily been drip feeding hints that the upcoming Jawas are under development and coming soon. His latest teaser was a tweet of a motivational meme with the photograph of a rider on an R1 in the rain and the caption, “Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass, it’s about learning to ride in the rain”. While the motorcycle or quote in particular have no real relevance, Mahindra’s accompanying caption in the tweet had more revealing words, “We all know about the advice to ‘Dance in the rain..’ But with Jawa’s imminent resurrection you can’t blame me for pushing this avatar of the quote.”

That may come across as just another tease, but soon after, Mahindra replied to a tweet that asked how long the wait would be with the words, “happening this year…”. Suffice to say, the Jawa brand will reappear in 2018, but beyond this there is no clear information as to when that will be or what it entails. 

Jawa Moto, based in the Czech Republic, recently revealed a motorcycle called the 350 OHC in Europe which is powered by a 397cc four-stroke engine. This motor is air-cooled, but it features fuel-injection and a four-valve head, and produces 27.7hp and 30Nm of torque. The bike gets a disc brake at the front and a drum at the rear, but it is not completely devoid of technology; it features ABS and is said to be Euro-IV emissions compliant. However, we don’t believe this is the bike coming to India. 

Here’s why - in 2016, through its subsidiary Classic Legends, Mahindra signed an exclusive brand licence agreement with Jawa for India and select Asian markets. This is likely to mean that Mahindra will be developing its own product under the Jawa brand name for these regions. We believe that this bike could use the Mahindra Mojo’s engine (and perhaps more) as a base. You can read about that in more detail here. Our experience with this refined and characterful engine shows that it could make a good fit in a modern interpretation of a Jawa motorcycle.

At the moment, little is known about the Jawa project, but it’s now almost a certainty that we’ll get to see something by the end of 2018.