Royal Enfield Vs Jawa Motorcycles: Which Is The Better Performer On The Market?

Both Royal Enfield and Jawa Motorcycles have a strong heritage and fan following in the country. The original Jawa had to take a break in the late 20th century, but they have finally made a grand comeback. Here's our take on both the brands' sales performance in India.

Royal Enfield is one of the strongest companies in India in terms of product value, brand recognition and even quality of products. The company has grown exponentially in the last two decades and is still going strong.

However, when figures are considered, it appears that Royal Enfield is slowing down. The financial year 2018-2019 has so far shown a sales number that is 5 per cent lower than the number recorded for the financial year 2017-2018.

This could have happened due to various reasons like increase in competition, price hikes, high maintenance costs and a few quality issues. Further, the big deal that was made out of the Signals Edition and Pegasus edition did tarnish the brand image a little bit.

Though it looks like a big deal, it is not a matter of grave concern for Royal Enfield. Siddhartha Lal, MD and CEO of Eicher Motors which owns and operates Royal Enfield too feels the same. He has got a point to prove too and rightly says, Royal Enfield has grown nearly twenty-fold in the last decade and the profit margin has grown from 10 per cent to 30 per cent.

Media reports have quoted Siddhartha Lal as saying, "There will be copycat types and there will be be people doing totally different things and that is part of competitive nature. Royal Enfield has a strong distribution and aftermarket network, strong service backup as well as good residual value for its models."

Quite a few media houses have pinned this statement to Jawa Motorcycles which recently made its re-entry in the Indian market. But, we aren't too sure what Siddhartha Lal meant by 'copycat types', but we definitely feel, Jawa Motorcycles is not the copycat types like most media houses are purporting it to be.

Jawa Motorcycles have retraced their roots and gone back to what the company originally was, in India. Right from the design of the motorcycles, till the look and feel of the entire brand experience, it is very similar to how it was a few decades ago.

The major differences now are that it comes with a four-stroke liquid-cooled engine instead of a two-stroke, air-cooled engine. However, it is true that Jawa is one of the biggest competitors for Royal Enfield right now as it caters to a similar audience and is in the same range price-wise and even in terms of engine-capacity.

Despite Royal Enfield having a huge demand and almost monopoly on the segment, Jawa Motorcycles has managed to get thousands of booking, with waiting periods now stretching up to nine months.

Thoughts On Royal Enfield And Jawa's Sales Performance

Royal Enfield is definitely not affected by Jawa Motorcycles and its sales. RE has a cult following and this cult following only grew with the launch of the 650 twins. The Royal Enfield Interceptor 650 and Continental GT 650 are doing very well in the market, and the motorcycles are great to ride as well.

Royal Enfield will only look to build up on these motorcycles and have a strong product portfolio in the coming months and years.

Source: MoneyControl