Classic Legends to develop electric version of BSA motorcycles in UK

The JV has got a grant from UK govt, which awarded BSA a £4.6-million grant to develop electric bikes

Classic Legends, part-owned by the Mahindra Group, is working on electric motorcycles at a newly established design and development centre in Coventry, UK, the company's top official said. The joint venture has received a grant from the UK government, which awarded BSA (a British motorcycle brand owned by Classic Legends) a £4.6-million grant to develop electric bikes.

The BSA Company was awarded this grant by the UK government’s Advanced Propulsion Centre, for development of innovative zero emission motorcycles that support the UK automotive sector’s quest for clean technologies. This is in addition to the company's plans to revive the BSA Motorcycles brand with the launch of internal combustion engine motorcycles.

“We are working with Innovate UK (it is part of the UK Research and Innovation, the national funding agency investing in science and research in the UK), University of Warwick and a few British companies to develop the electric version of the motorcycles,” Ashish Joshi, CEO, Classic Legends told Business Standard. Classic Legends has set up a technical centre at its base in Coventry.

Last month, Mahindra Group announced it will set up an advanced design centre for mobility products in the UK. It will be operational from July 1, 2021, and will also support the creation of highly skilled design roles, drawing from Coventry University, Royal College of Art, and other design colleges in the UK and Europe.

Mahindra Advanced Design Europe (MADE) is being set up in the West Midlands, and the new Centre of Excellence (CoE) will be a part of the Mahindra global design network that includes the Mahindra Design Studio in Mumbai, and Pininfarina Design in Turin (Italy), Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) said in a statement.

Back home in India Classic Legends that got into the mid-segment motorcycle market with Jawa bikes in 2019, is bracing to accelerate operations in a phased manner with lockdown restrictions  getting relaxed state-wise across the country. It also has chalked out an aggressive plan to expand its dealer network from the current 180 to 275 by August and 500 in the next 12 months.

“We worked through the lockdown and managed to create a pipeline to fulfill the delivery commitments to booked customers as states lift lockdowns,” said Joshi.  The company has been working with suppliers to align production to demand, he added, pointing out that given that the entire supplier base was in Maharashtra which was the most impacted by the second wave, there were impacted operations. Some of the models have a waiting of up to three weeks.  For this reason, the company didn’t push bookings very actively.  

During the course of the year, Classic Legends plans to launch a few models including the BSA Motorcycle. It will also commence export destinations once domestic demand is met. It is currently exporting Perak to Nepal and Jawa to Czech Republic.