The popularity of motorcycles in India can only be compared with the popularity of bicycles in Scandinavian countries. This method of travel is used by almost all residents of the country, regardless of their social level and income. In fact, from the moment the world’s first bicycles with motors appeared, the Indians immediately became their admirers. Today, India is the world’s leading motorcycle manufacturer, having recently taken the lead from China. More than 10 million of this type of equipment is produced annually in the country. Most of these are clones of products from leading world brands. However, this abundance also contains real pearls of its Indian production.
What is Indian Motorcycle Brands?
There are a lot of motorcycle brands in India. Among them are the market leaders: Bajaj, Mahindra, Hero, TVS, Royal Enfield, API, and Escorts Group.
Light types of motor vehicles – scooters, mopeds – are in particular demand in the country. The constant demand for an affordable two-wheeled mode of transportation has led powerful Indian corporations to increasingly expand their offerings, buying up brands from leading manufacturers such as Mahindra around the world. Today Honda, Kawasaki, Royal Enfield, Made in India, are found more often than originals in third world countries. However, the Indian brand Bajaj is successfully performing at the same level as well-known brands today, absolutely not inferior in its technical parameters and design to world manufacturers. They are of high quality and reliability.
Bajaj
The founder of the company named after himself was Jamnalal Bajaj, who in November 1949 was a seller and importer of scooters of foreign brands. After ten years, he acquired the right to manufacture his equipment. The production of motor carts under its brand was started. Rickshaws became very popular, and by the 70s of the last century, more than 100,000 of them were manufactured under the Bajaj brand emblem. In 1995, the number of this type of equipment exceeded several million. The success contributed to the expansion of production, which signed a contract with Kawasaki in 1986. From this time on, products began to come under the Bajaj-Kawasaki brand, and the Bajaj factories began to create licensed Japanese motorcycles. Today Bajaj is the 6th largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world.
The brand logo has a single emblem color – medium Persian blue. He is the accepted symbol of the god Krishna in India. Blue symbolizes strength, masculinity, the guarantee of victory, as well as universal availability. The main element of the emblem is a stylized sign of a flying bird. Below it is an inscription – the name of the brand, executed in a font, the development of which considered modern requirements for visualization and ease of perception of images. The simplicity and conciseness of the emblem are the keys to the ease of its memorability and recognition.
Mahindra
October 2, 1945, is the birthday of the Mahindra Group. It is currently the world’s largest Indian corporation headquartered in Mumbai. The founders of the company are Malik Ghulam Muhammad and brothers Jagdish Chandra Mahindra, Kailash Chandra Mahindra. Covers a wide area of mechanical engineering – the production of cars, agricultural machinery, and motorcycles. Today Mahindra & Mahindra owns French brand Peugeot Motorcycles, Czech brand Jawa, and BSA.
The brand’s logo is known all over the world. Three stripes separate a red ellipse at the bottom. The two outer stripes are closed at the edges of the figure, with their vertices resting on the upper edge of the ellipse. The third line separates these two lines without touching them. Its top also rests against the top edge of the ellipse. All three lines are sloped to the right, giving the sign a visual bulge feel. The color red is important to Hindus. It symbolizes purity, the energy of movement, and life. Under the sign is the text of the brand name – Mahindra, executed in Latin script using an uppercase font, the first letter of which is larger, like a capital letter. The font is made in monochrome. Depending on the location of the emblem, it is found in gray, white, and black.
Hero
Founded by Brijmohan Lall Munjal in 1983 in 1984, the brand was known until recently under the name Hero Honda, which in 2006 ranked 108th in Forbes’ top 200 companies in the world. In 2011, the relationship with Honda ended, and the Indians were renamed Hero Motocorp Ltd. In 2014, Hero contributed to the American company Erik Buell Racing, becoming an equity participant. This move increased the possibilities of selling its products in the United States. Today’s Hero Motocorp products account for almost half of the motorcycles sold in the Indian market. The company’s machines are notable for their small volumes – up to 200 cm3. Motorcycles are in great demand in Asia and the Caribbean.
With its logo, the brand has chosen a simple and laconic form – a graphic execution of the text of the name, used with a stylized sign of the first letter of the name. The sign is made in the form of two rectangles on the short side at some distance from each other at an angle to the viewer. The crossbar symbolizes a wide diagonal break in the white of the second rectangle, made in black, which symbolizes protection from failure in Indian symbolism. The first rectangle, like a font, has a red color – a symbol of movement and fortitude.
TVS
As a motorcycle manufacturer, the Indian brand TVS has been known since 1978, when the grandson of TV brand founder Sundaram Iyengar from Chennai opened a motorcycle factory at Hosure. The brand began its ascent in 1911, when the founder of the company T. V. Sundaram Ayengar, opened the first bus service in Madurai, expanding further bus and cargo transportation, creating an own large fleet of modern technology at that time. Today the TVS group is a multinational company with a motorcycle division – TVS Motor Company Limited. It is the third-largest Indian company in the overall listings of motorcycle manufacturers in the country.
The company emblem is made in two colors – red and blue, especially important for every Indian. Red is the color of movement and a powerful charge of energy. Blue – strength, masculinity, a constant struggle for the best, at the same time – availability. The image includes two elements – the abbreviation of the TVS brand name in blue with a tilt to the right symbolizing the forward movement, and a stylized image of a horse at the moment of its flight after making a jump over an obstacle, performed in red.
Royal Enfield
One of the oldest British motorcycle brands, Royal Enfield, founded in 1901, did not survive the last century’s crisis of the 50-the 60s. It was bought by the Indian company Madras Motors, Chennai, which continues the brand’s history today, but in a different design and performance. The new owner has produced 846,000 bikes by 2018, demonstrating his strength and success. For this reason, Madras Motors has kept the historic brand logo intact.
The use of red and orange in the logo fully corresponded to the spirit of the Indian company and the Indians themselves. These colors have an important sacred meaning. Red confirms the energy and power that characterize the company’s products. Orange is the favorite in India, which is sacred, promises prosperity, success, symbolizes fire. All elements of the emblem – the Royal Enfield sign and text, executed in the original font, the curves of which resemble the curves of the tracks, are made in red with orange edging. The sign is a circle in which a hexagonal equilateral figure with rounded tops is inscribed—made in orange. The accent figure of the logo is the first letter of the brand name “R,” which is enclosed on both sides by outstretched wings, symbolizing flight and speed.
API
Founded in 1949 in Bombay (today Mumbai) and named Automobile Products of India (API), the brand was focused on producing tricycles and pedicabs. It is best known as a manufacturer of lightweight scooters under the Lambretta brand and API’s traditional three-wheel bicycles. The latter were manufactured under a license acquired from Italian manufacturers Innocenti. But the company’s main products remained the traditional auxiliary systems produced for the automotive industry – brakes and clutches. In 2002, the company announced its closure.
The company’s emblem was not distinguished by a special creative approach to its elaboration. It was simple and concise – the text graphics of the API company abbreviation in an element resembling the protective glass of cycle rickshaws or scooters. A simple font with no unnecessary elements in monochrome. This made it easy to remember.
Escorts Group
One of the representatives of the Indian motorcycle industry was the Escorts Group. In the history of this conglomerate, focused on the manufacture of agricultural machinery and automotive engineering, there was a forty-year period of participation in the production of motor vehicles. From the 1960s to the early 2000s, it had a division producing Rajdoot motorcycles. The main products were licensed Polish SHL M11 175 cm3. In 1984, the company produced a range of Yamaha motorcycles, the first of which was the RX 100. But in 2005, the main office decided to close this direction.
Today, the brand’s motorcycles can be recognized by their original logo, made in the form of a nut, with the right side unfinished in the center. Its small inner ledge to the center from the middle of the left side formed a stylized Latin letter “E” – the first in the brand name. At the same time, when looking at the sign under a certain one, you can see the open-ended key symbol formed by the contours of the element. The sign is made in red, which is significant for Hindus. Below it is the text – the name “Escorts,” created in black in lower case. The use of these two colors in the logo informed the Indian consumer of the company’s visualization features – strength and power, movement to victory with guaranteed protection against failure.
Which bike company is Indian?
Several well-known motorcycle companies are registered in this country: Hero MotoCorp Ltd, Bajaj Auto Ltd, Honda Motorcycle, and Scooter India Pvt. Ltd (HMSI), TVS Motor Company Ltd, Eicher Motors Ltd – Royal Enfield, India Yamaha Motors, Suzuki Motorcycle India Private Limited, Piaggio India.
What bikes are made in India?
India produces motorcycles of both its own and foreign brands. Indian companies include Hero, Bajaj, TVS, Royal Enfield, Mahindra, and others. As for foreign brands of motorcycles produced at factories in India, the most prominent representative of this category is the Austrian KTM.
Who makes Indian motorcycles now?
American brand Indian Motorcycles was acquired by Polaris Industries Inc. in 2011 and still belongs to her.
Which is the best Indian bike brand?
The following motorcycle brands are considered the best in terms of mileage and price in India: Bajaj Pulsar, Honda CB Shine, Bajaj CT Series, Royal Enfield Classic 350, Hero Glamor, Bajaj Platina, Hero Passion, TVS Apache.
