Eicher Motors Ltd., parent company of Royal Enfield, the oldest motorcycle company in continuous production in the world, is investing in the future — electric motorcycle manufacturer Stark Future. As part of this collaboration, Eicher’s Board approved € 50 million for a 10.35% equity stake in Stark Future. With this investment, Eicher Motors Ltd., will have a seat on Stark Future’s Board, and will explore electric mobility opportunities.
“We love the vision, passion and focus of the amazing team at Stark Future,” says Eicher’s Managing Director, Siddhartha Lal. “Leisure motorcycles do not easily lend themselves to EV technology at this stage, due to challenges like the battery range, packaging, weight and cost. This has resulted in stunted growth of this segment… until now. Stark Future has been able to understand and harness the potential of EV technology by dramatically outperforming ICE offerings, without compromising on range, weight, packaging and cost.”
“We aimed to challenge and inspire the motorcycle industry with the creation of the Stark VARG and by bringing our electric technology from the drawing board to reality,” adds Anton Wass, Stark Future Founder and CEO. “To now partner with one of the very first motorcycle brands in history and be part of their journey towards sustainability is a huge inspiration for us at Stark. We have now worked closely with Sid, Govind and team for a few months, and have been deeply impressed by what they have created in the past 25 years, as well as the mindset and focus to continue to build and develop Royal Enfield into the future of sustainable motorcycling.”
Royal Enfield has made significant strides on its EV path in recent years. The company’s R&D programs have focused on creating uniquely differentiated electric motorcycles with strong Royal Enfield DNA in the middleweight segment. But Lal believes Stark will jump start Royal Enfield’s EV charge. “We believe that Stark Future has the highest potential for real breakout growth in the EV leisure space with the Stark VARG, and the potential to use this strong base to extend into other contiguous segments and beyond.”
Royal Enfield has been building several thoughts and approaches towards design and development and also towards bringing in the right talent and resources.
With the Stark VARG we believe we have a launch model that will reset benchmarks, so to know that the bike’s technical basis will spread much further and filter into more machinery and products is another source of pride for us. It has been a short, intense and incredible journey for us so far but our link with Royal Enfield and what lies in store in the coming years are brilliant signs for the future.”
