The Indian company Eicher Motors, parent company of the historic British motorbike manufacturer Royal Enfield and world leader in the 250-750cc  segment, has announced it will become a shareholder in the Spanish company Stark Future. This strategic investment of 50 million euros will give the company a stake of around 10.35% in the high-performance electric motorbike manufacturer that was set up in Barcelona in 2020.

The investment comes with long-term collaboration plans between the two companies, including investment in the joint research and development of electric motorbikes, technology sharing, technical licensing and manufacturing. Eicher will also be entitled to appoint a member of the board of directors. The partnership will consolidate Royal Enfield’s commitment to EV (electric vehicle) technology in recent years, with R&D programmes focused on sustainable mobility and a number of ideas in advanced stages of testing.

An “absolutely amazing” motocross bike
The managing director of Eicher Motors Ltd, Siddhartha Lal, described the trajectory of Stark Future by saying that, “Recreational motorbikes do not yet lend themselves easily to EV technology, due to challenges such as battery range, design, weight and cost. This reality has resulted in slow growth in the segment to date. Stark Future has been able to understand and harness the potential of EV technology, far outperforming combustion engines without compromising on range, weight, design and cost. They have created an absolutely amazing motocross bike, the Stark VARG, to make their entry into the world of electric vehicles. We believe Stark Future has the greatest potential for real growth in the EV leisure space with this model, as well as the potential to capitalise on its strong foundations for expanding into other adjacent segments and beyond”.

Immense synergies
The CEO of Royal Enfield, B. Govindarajan, did in turn describe the new partnership as symbiotic, explaining that, “We are very excited to collaborate closely with Stark Future, who are just as focused as we are on challenging the norms, pushing the limits and building unique proposals for motorbike enthusiasts. In addition to Stark Future’s great potential, we see immense synergies in this partnership. As they grow and plan their next market entry, we will support Stark in the industrialisation process. As a leader in EV technology, particularly in lightweight components and innovative solutions, Royal Enfield will leverage these capabilities to develop our EV platforms, and we also plan to share some EV platforms in the future.”

Challenging and inspiring the industry
The founder and executive director of Stark Future, Anton Wass, said, “Our goal was to challenge and inspire the motorbike industry by creating the Stark VARG and taking our electric technology from the drawing board to real life. To now partner with one of the first motorbike brands in history and be part of their journey towards sustainability is a great inspiration for us. We have worked closely with Sid, Govind and the team over a number of months, and we have been greatly impressed by what they have created over the last twenty-five years, as well as the mindset and approach they have to building and developing Royal Enfield towards the future of sustainable motorcycling”.

^{Photo: Stark Future}