New safety and emission regulations: It will be a smooth ride for Jawa motorcycles

CHENNAI: The recently launched brand of motorcycles will have a distinct price advantage as the entire two-wheeler market moves towards new safety and emission regulations.

According to Ashish Joshi, CEO, Classic Legends, Jawa motorcycles already incorporate the emission and safety standards mandated between this year and 2020 including ABS  and liquid cooled fuel injection engine. As a result, the price increase on Jawa bikes between 2019 and 2020 will be minimum. In contrast, motorcycles migrating from BS4 to ABS to BS6 will get pricier by anywhere between Rs 30,000-33,000.

Joshi said, “Some  brands will be forced to raise prices as they migrate from BS4 to BS6. Also, ABS technology comes in from this year which too will cause a Rs 8000-10,000 price mark up.” 

Classic Legends’ Jawa and Jawa Forty Two bikes already have single channel ABS and is offering dual channel ABS as an option at an additional cost of just under Rs 9,000.

As for migrating from BS4 to BS6, said Joshi, the Jawa bikes “already have a lot of BS6 technology integrated into the product so our price increase will be the least when BS6 migration happens,” he added.

Motorcycle brands which will need to invest in major engine upgradation will see a steep rise in prices come April 2020. BS6 technology requires fuel injection engines and liquid cooling which can set a customer back by anywhere between Rs 15,000-20000, said Joshi. While higher end cruiser and lifestyle bikes are mostly both BS6 compatible and have ABS as well, the rest of the market will see a sharp price hike, said Joshi.

Classic Legends stopped online bookings of its bikes on December 25 but offline bookings continue at dealerships as more outlets open up. Currently on expansion spree, it has signed up 105 dealers so far all of which will open by February 15. 

“We will have 15-20 more dealers in the next couple of months and then we will focus on bike deliveries,” said Joshi. “We will go for the next round of network expansion 12 months later,” he added. The bikes booked now will be delivered in October and November 2019. The largest number of bookings is in the 24-29 age group and the first bikes will be ready for customers in March 2019.