Another British Marque to be revived??
Discussion
The thing is, Royal Enfield have had a long history of being built in India, even before they took over sole production.
I think that Mahindra may take a look at Tata's model, and attempt to maintain the "Britishness" of the marque, although it has to be said that Tata didn't have to start from scratch.
However, Triumph and Norton were re-started from scratch, so there are examples of one success, and one yet to be a success.
They essentially have two choices: go for the cheap, mass market that is India and the far east with small capacity bikes built in India, or go for an up market 500cc and up European built market with high quality parts.
They already make a motorcycle, the Centuro, and they have a track record in Moto 3, although I'm not sure how much input is from the factory.
Good luck to them, hopefully they won't drag the good name of BSA down.
I think that Mahindra may take a look at Tata's model, and attempt to maintain the "Britishness" of the marque, although it has to be said that Tata didn't have to start from scratch.
However, Triumph and Norton were re-started from scratch, so there are examples of one success, and one yet to be a success.
They essentially have two choices: go for the cheap, mass market that is India and the far east with small capacity bikes built in India, or go for an up market 500cc and up European built market with high quality parts.
They already make a motorcycle, the Centuro, and they have a track record in Moto 3, although I'm not sure how much input is from the factory.
Good luck to them, hopefully they won't drag the good name of BSA down.
Loyly said:
It'd be nice to imagine that they'd rise like Triumph did over the past 16 years to become an excellent producer of modern motorcycles, but a more likely case would be basic, Indian built bikes based on the old bangers BSA used to make.
And they own 51% of Peugeot mopeds, remember...Mad Jock said:
The thing is, Royal Enfield have had a long history of being built in India, even before they took over sole production.
I think that Mahindra may take a look at Tata's model, and attempt to maintain the "Britishness" of the marque, although it has to be said that Tata didn't have to start from scratch.
However, Triumph and Norton were re-started from scratch, so there are examples of one success, and one yet to be a success.
They essentially have two choices: go for the cheap, mass market that is India and the far east with small capacity bikes built in India, or go for an up market 500cc and up European built market with high quality parts.
They already make a motorcycle, the Centuro, and they have a track record in Moto 3, although I'm not sure how much input is from the factory.
Good luck to them, hopefully they won't drag the good name of BSA down.
Royal Enfield own Harris Performance and they're spending £2.5m on a factory near Rugby so I'd imagine anything built will be very modern and very European.I think that Mahindra may take a look at Tata's model, and attempt to maintain the "Britishness" of the marque, although it has to be said that Tata didn't have to start from scratch.
However, Triumph and Norton were re-started from scratch, so there are examples of one success, and one yet to be a success.
They essentially have two choices: go for the cheap, mass market that is India and the far east with small capacity bikes built in India, or go for an up market 500cc and up European built market with high quality parts.
They already make a motorcycle, the Centuro, and they have a track record in Moto 3, although I'm not sure how much input is from the factory.
Good luck to them, hopefully they won't drag the good name of BSA down.
I've got to assume the plan is to build another range of retro-inspired bike? Not a lot of point in buying a name with some heritage if you're not going to make a play on that heritage.
The challenge I guess is as time goes by fewer and fewer folks have a direct affinity to the heritage and remember a time when the bikes we desirable...or not. An image thing I guess. In my younger day when I hung around with a group of lads all on British bikes we fell in to primarily a Triumph or Norton camp (with a few AJSs, Matchlesses etc). But for us Norton vs Triumph was like Rangers and Celtic...or any other irrationally held prejudice. OK, not so irrationally held - the Triumphs were cheap and nasty with bent steel levers, cheap looking oil-in-frame frame etc. See, after 40 years I still can't shake the prejudice. So despite the new Triumphs being totally different bikes and a huge success, it's not a brand I'm drawn to. Shallow perhaps. but there we are.
But BSAs were always cool - and such glorious names - Gold Star. Victor, Road Rocket (we'll forget the fact Triumph nicked Rocket 3 from BSA), Victor, Barracuda etc. Let's just ignore the Bantam for the time being
And then the C15, unless it was a Honda 250 this was the 4-stroke learner's bike of choice.
So yes, if they do it right I guess there are enough old fogeys who hanker after a BSA - either the one that they had as a yoof, or aspired to have and never managed it.
And to my mind Triumph have 'done it right' with the Bonneville, Norton with the Commando and Indian with the Chief and Scout. I'm not at all convinced by the Brough - apart from being godawful ugly, the engine if far too wide in the V to carry forward any implied DNA from the original.
Ariel's a trickier one - is it actually trying to draw on the heritage of the old Arial motorcycle range, or just be a tie-up to the scaffolding-pole cars? Not to say it's not a great bike, but someone who hankered after a Red Hunter or a Square Four is hardly going to want to throw their leg over a new Ace.
And isn't someone doing something with Matchless, and Vincent too?
But there must come a point where the market for selling heritage-inspired bikes to older folks runs dry. And then we're in to new bikes with a contemporary/modern style (like Triumph have done very successfully too) which I guess will be much harder to sell initially.
Anyway, I hope they do a good job - I've a soft spot for BSA and while I wouldn't give a Bonneville garage space, there's maybe a wee spot where a Gold Star recreation could go, or a BSA Rocket 3, with Fireball XL5 style silencers
The challenge I guess is as time goes by fewer and fewer folks have a direct affinity to the heritage and remember a time when the bikes we desirable...or not. An image thing I guess. In my younger day when I hung around with a group of lads all on British bikes we fell in to primarily a Triumph or Norton camp (with a few AJSs, Matchlesses etc). But for us Norton vs Triumph was like Rangers and Celtic...or any other irrationally held prejudice. OK, not so irrationally held - the Triumphs were cheap and nasty with bent steel levers, cheap looking oil-in-frame frame etc. See, after 40 years I still can't shake the prejudice. So despite the new Triumphs being totally different bikes and a huge success, it's not a brand I'm drawn to. Shallow perhaps. but there we are.
But BSAs were always cool - and such glorious names - Gold Star. Victor, Road Rocket (we'll forget the fact Triumph nicked Rocket 3 from BSA), Victor, Barracuda etc. Let's just ignore the Bantam for the time being
And then the C15, unless it was a Honda 250 this was the 4-stroke learner's bike of choice.So yes, if they do it right I guess there are enough old fogeys who hanker after a BSA - either the one that they had as a yoof, or aspired to have and never managed it.
And to my mind Triumph have 'done it right' with the Bonneville, Norton with the Commando and Indian with the Chief and Scout. I'm not at all convinced by the Brough - apart from being godawful ugly, the engine if far too wide in the V to carry forward any implied DNA from the original.
Ariel's a trickier one - is it actually trying to draw on the heritage of the old Arial motorcycle range, or just be a tie-up to the scaffolding-pole cars? Not to say it's not a great bike, but someone who hankered after a Red Hunter or a Square Four is hardly going to want to throw their leg over a new Ace.
And isn't someone doing something with Matchless, and Vincent too?
But there must come a point where the market for selling heritage-inspired bikes to older folks runs dry. And then we're in to new bikes with a contemporary/modern style (like Triumph have done very successfully too) which I guess will be much harder to sell initially.
Anyway, I hope they do a good job - I've a soft spot for BSA and while I wouldn't give a Bonneville garage space, there's maybe a wee spot where a Gold Star recreation could go, or a BSA Rocket 3, with Fireball XL5 style silencers
tvrolet said:
I've got to assume the plan is to build another range of retro-inspired bike? Not a lot of point in buying a name with some heritage if you're not going to make a play on that heritage...
Great post and likewise I hope Mahindra have good advice and are able to capitalise on this acquisition.Gassing Station | Biker Banter | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff