Does Yezdi’s return signal peak zombie brand madness?

[advrider]

Have you ever ridden a Yezdi? Have you ever even heard of a Yezdi? For most of us, the answer is probably a big, fat no, but yet—corporate bigwigs somewhere appear ready to reboot the failed motorcycle brand. Does this mean we’ve reached the peak of the zombie brand mania, or does it mean it’s time the western moto markets took notice of what’s going on in the rest of the world?

What’s Yezdi?

Yezdi is unfamiliar with western markets because although it was based on Euro technology, it was a made-in-India brand. In the 1970s and 1980s, Ideal Jawa of India had a licence to locally manufacturer the Czechoslovakian designs, and used the Yezdi brand to market them locally. It’s sort of a loosely similar arrangement to the Royal Enfield setup, which saw an Indian subsidiary make copies of Royal Enfield’s UK designs.

In that situation, the Indian factory long outlived the British plant; in the case of Yezdi, it’s a bit more complicated. Jawa is kinda-sorta in business still, with Mahindra-backed Classic Legends making motorcycles under that brand in India as well. Now, Classic Legend is supposed to also be reviving the Yezdi marque for India and global export markets.

It sounds a bit silly, selling Yezdi motorcycles in Europe, when it seems unlikely there will be any great rush to buy them. However, maybe there’s some method to this madness. First off, Classic Legends has a billion built-in customers in India, many of whom will be much more interested in this brand. Second, if Classic Legends uses the same engine for the Yezdi as it uses for the Jawa line, then perhaps regulatory hurdles will be easily cleared, and this would allow for some differentiation on showroom floors, all at an affordable cost. In short: This sounds like the peak of zombie brand stupidity, but the bean-counters are rarely wrong, once you involve mega-corps like Mahindra …

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