Why Jawa and Yezdi are sold as two separate motorcycle brands

One factory in Mysore made both names

Jawa and Yezdi are not two separate motorcycles that happen to share an owner today. They came out of the same factory. Ideal Jawa was founded in Mysore in 1960 by Farrokh Irani, building motorcycles in India under licence from the Czech firm Jawa, and its bikes carried the Jawa name from that year. In 1973 the arrangement changed and the same factory began selling its motorcycles as Yezdi instead. One factory, one line of two stroke singles, two brand names used at different times.

Why the first Jawa name disappeared in 1996

Ideal Jawa could not hold its ground once Yamaha and Honda arrived in India. Its Yezdis were heavier, slower in some models and less fuel efficient than the new competition, and tightening pollution control norms were making its two stroke engines obsolete. Labour trouble added to the pressure. Production stopped in 1996 and the company went into liquidation soon after, closing a factory that had employed about 3,500 people. For 22 years, nobody made a new Jawa or Yezdi in India.

How Classic Legends ended up with both names

Mahindra and Mahindra, together with Boman Irani, the son of Ideal Jawa's founder, and venture capitalist Anupam Thareja, set up Classic Legends in 2015 to bring the names back. Classic Legends signed a fresh licence with the Czech company that still owns the Jawa brand, and launched the Jawa and Jawa Forty Two in India on 15 November 2018, priced at ₹1,64,000 and ₹1,55,000, with a factory custom Jawa Perak to follow. Reviving Jawa was straightforward because that licence came directly from its Czech owner.

Yezdi was harder, because that name had only ever belonged to Ideal Jawa in India. Its trademark registrations lapsed between 2007 and 2008 and nobody renewed them. Irani filed fresh applications for the Yezdi mark from 2013 to 2014 and assigned the rights to Classic Legends in 2018. The official liquidator of Ideal Jawa objected, and in December 2022 a single judge of the Karnataka High Court ruled against Classic Legends. Classic Legends appealed, and on 27 November 2025 a Division Bench of the High Court reversed that order. The bench held that Ideal Jawa had not used the Yezdi mark for more than 15 years and had taken no steps to renew or protect it, so the trademark could not remain locked up indefinitely. That cleared the way for Classic Legends to carry on selling motorcycles under the Yezdi name.

What this means for a buyer today

Walk into a Jawa Yezdi showroom in India now and both brands sit side by side, built by the same company and sold through the same dealer network. The Jawa range, including the Forty Two and the Perak, leans on the look of the original 1960s motorcycle. The Yezdi range, with the Roadster, Scrambler and Adventure, is pitched as the more rugged, off road leaning sibling. Neither is a restored original. Both are new motorcycles built around names a Mysore factory made famous, now owned by one company after a court finally settled who could use which name.

Sources

• Ideal Jawa, Wikipedia
• Classic Legends ushers in next gen Jawa Motorcycles, Mahindra press release
• Karnataka High Court restores Classic Legends' rights to the Yezdi marks for motorcycles, LiveLaw
• Karnataka High Court clears Classic Legends to use 'Yezdi' trademark, Storyboard18