BSA Regal
In 1997, production began on the hand built 400cc Gold SR with the first batch of over 200 machines being exported to Japan. Production of the BSA John McLaren also commenced in 1997 and small numbers continue to be built under licence. The very comprehensive spares business continued to supply the world's Norton twin owners and restorers. Development work with Government agencies and non-European motorcycle manufacturers had been augmented with the strength from the Southampton-based Regal Group and in 1999 a 500cc version of the Gold SR was launched for the European and American markets.
By 2003, it had become clear that demand for the hand built Gold SR was not reaching previous expectations and production ceased. The 1,000cc Tempest, widely acclaimed in its prototype form, did not reach the production line and MZ sales failed to reach their promising potential. In 2007, BSA's involvement with MZ ended when the parts business was sold. In the same year, Joe Seifert, the then new owner of Norton Motors Ltd, made an interesting and successful bid for BSA Regal's Norton Commando parts business. The bid included the return to BSA Company of its European trademarks.
In 2008, a serious infringement of BSA Company's trademarks occurred in India when Tube Investments of India, the eventual owners of the BSA trademarks for bicycles, used the BSA trademark on electric powered motor scooters. In January 2015, the infringement cases were still in the High Court of Madras[2] and the Supreme Court of India.
In 2012, the BSA-Regal website[3] listed only the history of BSA bikes, not any new or re-manufactured models. However, the Birmingham-based motorcycle parts company MCA (Aston) Limited[4] was licensed by BSA Company to manufacture and market parts for BSA motorcycles.
In June 2014, BSA Company, working in conjunction with a British company, Ripe Motorcycles,[5] launched the all-electric BSA John McLaren TAG 350, a small-wheeled off-roader.[3] In January 2015, the model range was increased to include the BSA TAG 1000 (1 kW) for motocross competition, with a further model extension planned with the BSA TAG Race Supermoto.
