Jawa ‘disowns’ reborn bad brother Yezdi… with good intentions though

Jawa 'disowns' its own sister 'bad boy' brother Yezdi as Classic Legends gears up for its latest revival project in a quirky 'anti' marketing pitch...

Yezdi revival

We love it when motorcycle manufacturers let their marketing teams get a bit leftfield and wonky with their communications, which is the best way we can describe a new campaign from Indian firm Jawa as it begins ramping up awareness of its revived Yezdi compatritot brand.

The latest historic nameplate to be dusted off and given a modern reboot, Yezdi has its origins from the Czech Republic and was best-known for its Roadking, which was available between 1978 and 1996 before the brand was phased out.

However, for 2022 Yezdi has been brought back to life by Classic Legends, which has already worked its magic on Jawa and is also involved in the BSA revival via its parent company Mahindra.

Not much has been known about what to expect from Yezdi since its comeback was confirmed, that was until Jawa posted some curious ‘warnings’ on its social media pages claiming to have ‘disowned’ its (bad) brother.

What looks like a Twitter spat, however, is actually some quirky ‘anti’ marketing from Jawa to play up to Yezdi’s so-called ‘original bad boy’ image.

While we aren’t entirely sure what that means in a motorcycling context, we’re intrigued at the very least to see just what Yezdi has waiting in the wings as it prepares to reveal its first new motorcycle for more than 20 years. 

For now Yezdi is likely to remain within the bounds of Asia with a predominant focus on India, but Mahindra has said it is keen to follow Royal Enfield in expanding its operations globally, beginning with production and R&D of new BSA models in the UK.

Once this has been established with a dealer network, Royal Enfield-rivalling Jawa and Yezdi could follow suit.