'Yezdi Will Lead Sales for Classic Legends' - Anupam Thareja

On the sidelines of the new Yezdi Roadster launch in Mumbai, Acko Drive caught up with Anupam Thareja, Co-Founder of Classic Legends (parent company of Yezdi, Jawa and BSA) for an exclusive conversation. In the chat, Thareja mentioned that “Yezdi will lead Classic Legends sale". This statement is of relevance as currently Yezdi plays second fiddle to Jawa, which has been the top performing brand for Classic Legends with respect to sales volume. 

However, one should also note that Jawa made its debut in 2018, whereas Yezdi is a much younger brand as it commenced its journey in 2022. It also faced a lot of headwinds like the Covid pandemic, lawsuits against restarting operations under the Yezdi brand and more which slowed down its growth.

Product Upgrade

However, Thareja feels that’s all in the past and now Yezdi is in a much better position to improve its market share and lead sales for Classic Legends. Unlike Jawa, which is focused on the retro and roadster genre of bikes, Yezdi taps into very interesting and different segments. The Yezdi portfolio consists of three motorcycles - Roadster, Adventure and the Scrambler. The Yezdi Adventure was recently updated with styling changes and new features, and according to company officials has received good response. 

The Roadster too was updated with the new Alpha 2 engine, some styling tweaks and new features. The Yezdi Scrambler update is also under works and according to our sources will be launched soon. On the same lines the iconic Yezdi Road King hasn’t been launched yet. Given how the Road King was the identity of the brand, it’s surprising that the same hasn’t been launched yet. But Anupam Thareja did drop a hint that the company is working on the same and it’s in the pipeline. 

Diverse Portfolio

What Yezdi offers is a variety of motorcycle segment and that’s the strong point for the brand but with respect to pricing Jawa still has the edge as prices for its motorcycles start at ₹1.98 lakh whereas that for the Yezdi starts at ₹2.10 lakh (all prices mentioned are ex-showroom). Despite the price challenge, Thareja sounds confident as he feels the new Yezdi bikes are positioned in a segment where competition isn’t very high and there is scope for it to gain market share. The company has been focusing on improving the quality levels of its products and the same can be clearly seen in the new Yezdi Adventure and the Roadster. 

Footprint Expansion

Another big boost for Yezdi is that Classic Legends has been working really hard in increasing its dealership and service network. With more showrooms being added, sales for its motorcycles too will receive a boost as in comparison to Honda and Royal Enfield, it’s lagging. So can Yezdi trump Jawa is a sibling rivalry that we will be following closely and we will be riding the new Yezdi Roadster next month so make sure you follow Acko Drive for all the latest updates.