As part of this collaboration, the Board of Directors of Eicher Motors has approved an investment of € 50 million for a close to 10.35% equity stake in Stark Future. With this investment, Eicher Motors will have a seat on Stark Future’s Board, and will explore further opportunities to collaborate in the space of electric mobility.
This investment has strategic significance for both Royal Enfield and for Stark Future, as both companies are keenly invested in creating innovative and sustainable solutions in global mobility, Eicher Motors said in a statement.
Eicher Motors Managing Director, Siddhartha Lal says, “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 till 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.”
Stark Future recently launched its first high performance electric motocross bike, the Stark VARG. As part of the collaboration, Eicher Motors will support Stark Future to scale up and commercially launch the product shortly.
“We believe that Stark Future has the highest potential for real breakout growth in the EV leisure space with this model, and the potential to use this strong base to extend into other contiguous segments and beyond”, said Lal.
While Stark Future has expertise in EV technology, particularly in light-weight components and innovative solutions, Royal Enfield aims to draw on these capabilities for developing its own EV platforms. Royal Enfield also plans to share some EV platforms with Stark in the future.
Stark Future Founder and CEO, Anton Wass said, “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.”
Stark Future is a European electric motorcycle manufacturer with specific focus in the area of performance electric motorcycles.
Royal Enfield – a major player in mid-weight motorcycle segment globally – too has been working in the electric mobility space. The company said it’s R&D programmes have included a major focus on sustainable mobility technologies, and there are several ideas in advanced stages of testing.
Royal Enfield said it has been aggressively building a sharp and insightful understanding of the EV space with an intention to create uniquely differentiated electric motorcycles with strong Royal Enfield DNA, in the midweight segment. Royal Enfield has been building several thoughts and approaches towards design and development and also towards bringing in the right talent and resources.
