[amoghk98]

Before buying the Duke 390 BS6, I had considered the JAWA Classic dual channel ABS, solely due to the solid engine used in the Mojo, and beautiful looks. It had an amazing retro look, very much to my liking.

The first issue that put me off was the maroon/red color shown in pictures versus the actual color of the bike. The actual color is a lighter shade and IMHO doesn't match up with the characteristics of the bike. I was very excited as it was my first bike with my own money, but I was let down somewhere. Still, I decided to pursue it.

The second issue that put me off was the behaviour of the showrooms. Technical knowledge was severely lacking, and although they were friendly, professional isn't the word I would use for them.

The third issue that put me off was the bike itself. The rider's triangle was not very well thought of, and a 6'1" person like me would definitely find some discomfort within a few minutes of riding. The speedometer and fuel level indicator have a unique styling. It is good only when you hear of it, not when you use it. It is barely visible and doesn't solve the purpose. The engine was supposed to be tuned for cruising ability, but the low-end torque was still not up to the mark. The vibrations on the footpegs were very prominent as the revs climbed, but I couldn't figure out the sweet spot as the tachometer is missing. Add to that the low GC which would end up scraping the dual exhaust pipes on literally every speedbreaker in Pune.

In Spite of all these issues and discomforts, out of desperation I agreed to go ahead and paid the booking amount of Rs. 5000. They had a bike readily available so we went for the PDI. This was the moment where I was extremely let down as the finishing quality on the bike costing 2.2 lakhs was very substandard. The welds were not finished properly, the paint job was sloppy and there was a broken plastic cap below the handle. Some parts of the exhaust had already started to rust. Multiple scratches on several parts of the bike made it even worse.

This was when I finally decided to cancel my booking. I was told that it is company policy that the refund amount will be given only by cheque, not cash or online transfer. Although it sounded absurd, I decided to wait for the said 2 weeks time till the cheque would be ready. I kept following up with them continuously, and once the cheque was ready after 3 weeks, the lockdown began. I gave them a simple solution, online transfer via UPI apps or netbanking. Even after multiple escalations there was no positive feedback from them. Finally once the lockdown started opening up, I went and collected the cheque. They had given it to me without checking that it had expired already. Another long fight with the customer care and showroom ensued, many a times the showroom refusing to pickup my calls. A long argument followed and I finally took up this issue with the West region sales manager. He promised that the amount would be refunded in 2 days time, which it did. Just out of curiosity I asked the sales manager whether it is company policy that refund amount is given via cheque only, and he refused of knowing any such policy. This, in my terms, is pure fraud and exploitation of the customer.

After such a horrible experience with the bike and with the showroom staff, no one would recommend JAWA to their close friends/family etc. Apart from the multiple issues rightly mentioned by other members, the expectations a customer has when buying a 2L+ bike, they are nowhere close to the customer service experience offered. After reading many such reviews, it is not surprising that their sales figures aren't top notch.

[ashwin1224]

Its really sad to see the soup Mahindra have gotten themselves into. Many of the members have rightly pointed out the many flaws with their whole operation. And I agree with almost all of them. I have a 1979 Yezdi Type-B and thus I already had a soft corner for the Jawa at launch. Being part of a leading motorcycling group in my city, we were given special test rides by the showroom, and frankly the bike felt lovely to me. Both of them felt fun to ride, and were really easy to chuck about in the city. Coming from a Duke 390, the bikes felt relaxed but I understand what some people meant when they said the bike is too "sporty" for a cruiser. It indeed is sporty, but felt relaxed to me solely because of the madness of the KTM which I was used to.

The seat height was the most interesting for me. Im 5'7" and I felt people taller than me would definitely complain. However, this seat height was absolutely perfect for my 5'2" wife. We had(have?) plans to buy a used or brand new Forty Two for her in 2021. Simply becaue the Avenger is under powered, and does not feel special, and there are no other options in the market for people of her physical stature. Special mods to the Thunderbird do make it aproachable, but then the wieght is too much for her.

It's really disappointing that to hear all these ordeals of people who have booked/bought/cancelled a Jawa. I hope Mahindra put some proper people in charge and subdue the unapealing pile of marketing up top. You dont NEED to (pretend to) be a biker to run a motorcycle company. I wish that person understands this and focuses more time on sorting the company's internals, than white washing the exteriors.

[s_pphilip]

I too like others already expressed, don't think its entirely the product, motorcycle market is quite mod friendly and folks who like their steeds go to every extent to customize to their satisfaction, I believe the execution here was majorly botched and poorly planned from maybe the word go.

The sales campaign was all about bringing folks up to the doorstep and then they lost the plot, it was assumed the buyer, high on nostalgia and thrill will swoon over and walk off with the bike, wrongly assumed.

This is no daily bike nor does it attempt to be an all rounder, their attempt was to make it a cult bike, but there was no marketing strategy or activity to turn it into cult honestly for which even simple you and me, could put a plot in place.

I used to initially follow up on small events or rides that the brand could organize to build up on the initial marketing blitzkrieg, which anyways failed when deliveries were getting delayed resulting in annoyed customers.

These events would act like an endorsement of the brand and culture within the owner community and also broaden the scope to include others. It acts like propaganda and builds that human urge to fit in and feel it in. You walk away with a lot of positive endorsements once those chain links are established.

The brand could easily have capitalized on the existing Yezdi or Java clubs but NO, once they sold the bike to the owner, they made the owner feel it was just another regular daily commuter brand rather than one which has nostalgia, which needs to be felt and kept alive.

I do agree, the bike has some short comings but we have seen products which have been embraced by its following if the brand image coincides with the product sold. Here the company made no attempt to bring in that resemblance and tap into those sentiments.

Good opportunity lost but not completely, if they want to, they still can do it. I once met a Mojo rider from TN at Morjim beach who had rode his Mojo along the length and breadth of the country and was very happy with the product but echoed that Mahindra honestly does not have a marketing strategy or consistency in marketing.

I don't see any adverts today, neither offline nor online. What is the company doing to bring the brand to the prospect customers mind, NOTHING. Then why will the buyer feel a tug towards a product that is close to invisible.

Mahindra need not look too far, they just need to look at their in house advert team which promotes the brand and culture it represents through the great escape propaganda. Heck even Redmi has said it relies on community marketing effort and has proved that's what works in this age.

It's not enough that the company offers a couple of bikes once a year to review, that's just 10 minutes or an hour at max of dedicated attention span in a year that they seek, versus the 8000+ hours that RE smartly bombards both directly or indirectly through their users and advertisements a year, both offline and online.

They can't ignore that brand recollection Indian's have about RE, its there everywhere, so subtly and also loudly, in your face, your neighbors place and even in your friends FB page. That's what you see in the background when you look at places you want to visit, whether its Leh, Amritsar or Alleppey.

They need to revamp their marketing team so they urgently come up with programs that keep the brand alive in the motorcyclists mind constantly in this short attention game. I still believe there is a market and if not for Java, another brand can step in that space if the whole plan is executed well.

By that, not ignoring the equal importance of easy accessibility of spares and economical maintenance, including pleasant service, which then helps sustain the culture and movement. The idea for the bike started of on the basis of accessible nostalgia and cult and that premise the brand should carry forward, I think it failed miserably in that attempt so far.

The customer should be made to buy the feeling and the brand and product should match that extrapolated image in the customers mind. I have seen many appreciating the bike when in their attention and maybe would consider if that image could build up inside them.

[RiderZone]

Looking at the sales numbers for the Mahindra empire, they are market leaders in CV and tractor segment, average in the car segment, and absolutely horrendous in the bike segment.

An oversimplified explanation for their Jawa sillyness seems to be that Mahindra simply doesn't have the expertise to market and sell automobiles.

CV and tractor buying are non-emotional decisions, you only care about the final aim of increasing profit with that purchase. As soon as some level of emotion gets involved, like cars, they struggle. Moto buying is the most illogical process among all automobiles, and that's where they are completely out of the picture.

[sureshkishore]

IMO the Jawa is close to an almost perfect execution of a retro design. Look at it and it will make you fall in love with it. But the way it rides and the way it feels on the handlebars it felt too similar to other mainstream bikes.
The powertrain and the dynamics do not do justice to its design at all. I am sure many would differ with me on this, but as a prospective buyer it certainly put me off.
The attitude of dealers, high retail price mark ups, delivery delays and feedback of owners didn't do much to help matters.

[shortbread]

I think it will make a lot of sense for M&M to cut it's losses and find a buyer for the two wheeler division.

M&M has a lot on its plate, slew of UV launches, a laggard MCV & HCV division, the promising North America operations, upcoming electrification projects etc... etc.... Its time to accept with humility that M&M doesn't have the required x-factor to cut it in the two wheeler space.

The Jawa/BSA/Mojo portfolio will be a perfect buy for any established Indian two wheeler manufacturer looking to go upmarket. The likes of Hero or Tvs can turn this into a winner. They have the technical, sales and marketing expertise.

Hero especially will find Jawa a perfect fit. An aspirational brand they can build on. Plus the liquid cooled engine and platform + international recognition of brands like Peugeot, BSA etc

[tchsvy]

Originally Posted by shortbread

Hero especially will find Jawa a perfect fit. An aspirational brand they can build on. Plus the liquid cooled engine and platform + international recognition of brands like Peugeot, BSA etc

Hero XPulse 300T with Mojo's engine would be great!

[arzala]

Originally Posted by GTO

Big part of the blame goes to the Mahindra Group as well. This is their usual story = get excited, acquire a company with lots of glitz & glamour, throw a party, but follow it up with awful execution. Standard Mahindra playbook. Either they suck at execution or they don't have management bandwidth.

Think about all their acquisitions & tie-ups.

- How did Jawa fare? Answer is above.

- SsangYong? Loss making, and on the block.

- Reva? Dead. Could have been a 1st-mover in mass market EVs.

- Navistar Trucks. Who???

- 4 years since they acquired BSA Motorcycles. Results awaited.

- Mahindra-Renault JV? Divorce.

- Mahindra-Ford. Marriage, divorce, and now a desperate marriage (as Ford wants out).

- Peugeot. Doesn't look pretty yet.

- Other acquisitions include Carnation, Finland's Sampo Rosenlew, Erkunt Traktor Sanayii AS and more.

In comparison, consider Tata Motors. They made ONE notable acquisition (Jaguar-Land Rover) and executed it so well. The $2 billion they paid has been long made back, and they now own one of the most high-end luxury brands in the world.

I agree with all of above observations. However regarding Tata JLR case, I have different observation.

# TaMo currently has over 61000 Cr. debt and it's share price is still around same as 12 years ago at time of acquisition. I would call this acquisition strategically more as questionable than success.

# Tata itself accepted it and applied for bailout at UK government, which they refused eventually. Tata has also started to selectively release news of sales of JLR vehicles (sometimes they say China sales is growing but same time not talking much about decline in UK sales and vice versa.) I see here that they are not transparent with investors specially with JLR figures performance. Their target of being debt free by next 3 years seems too ambitious as well.

# I also do not see need for buying such big brand when it could have been possible to have JV or platform/tech sharing to help here build Harrier kind of vehicles. Now Harrier is not able to beat even decade old XUV5oo in terms of sales.

# Overall, both T and M are being big conglomerate are not able to focus heavily in PV business, which is also acceptable because this is normal in heavily diversified groups. These groups seems more interested in white collar industries like banking, finance and IT etc. more than these engineering.

[arun1100]

Originally Posted by GTO

Big part of the blame goes to the Mahindra Group as well. This is their usual story = get excited, acquire a company with lots of glitz & glamour, throw a party, but follow it up with awful execution. Standard Mahindra playbook. Either they suck at execution or they don't have management bandwidth.

Think about all their acquisitions & tie-ups.

- How did Jawa fare? Answer is above.

- Mahindra-Ford. Marriage, divorce, and now a desperate marriage (as Ford wants out).
.

Lol, talking about the Mahindra Ford relationship, they have divorced again now. What a sad story of partnerships!

Anyone have any update of the latest Jawa sales figures?

Meanwhile, here's a pic of my 2020 March Jawa.

[shortbread]

It's been 4 years of Mahindra's 'return of Jawa', 'taking on Bullet' etc... but there's little to show for it.

After the Jawa hype cooled down quickly, Mahindra launched more models on the same package under the Yezdi brand. Now that's gone cold as well (& stuck in a court case), it's the return of BSA! Before all this there was the Kinetic take over with a sizeable presence in the automatic scooter game, a segment which went onto boom but then Mahindra exited.

4 years and they still don't have the confidence to publish monthly sales figures!

It looks like Mahindra's two wheeler business wants to be everywhere but ends up nowhere.

[zaks]

I think the new Jawa does look fantastic and harks back to the Jawa of the yesteryear but I think the price is bit high and the A.S.S and total ownership experience is simply not good. People certainly were nostalgic about the Jawas but those people are not the ones buying the motorcycles because either they already have/had bought RE Bullet/Classic or have moved over to cars.