Eicher Motors Ltd., leading Indian multinational automobile company, and parent company of Royal Enfield, global leader in the mid-weight motorcycles segment (250cc-750cc), today announced a strategic collaboration in the space of electric motorcycles with Spain-based Stark Future SL.
As part of this collaboration, the Board of Directors of Eicher Motors Ltd. has
today approved an investment of €50 million for a close to 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 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. Stark Future recently launched its first high performance electric motocross bike,
the Stark VARG, which received an exceptional response from global media, professional
riders and dealers.
Speaking about Stark Future and this partnership, Eicher Motors Ltd Managing Director,
Siddhartha Lal says, “We love the vision, passion, and focus of the amazing team at Stark
Future. 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. They have created an absolutely
astounding motocross motorcycle – the Stark VARG as their entry into the EV world. 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”
At the helm of affairs at Royal Enfield, B Govindarajan, CEO of the company, feels this is a
perfectly symbiotic partnership, and says, “We are very excited to closely collaborate with
Stark Future who are as focused as we are on challenging norms, pushing the boundaries and building uniquely differentiated offerings for riders. In addition to the sheer potential of
Stark Future, we see immense synergies in this partnership. While they are scaling up and
planning their market entry soon, we will support Stark in the industrialisation process.
While they are thought leaders in EV technology, particularly in light-weight components
and innovative solutions, we at Royal Enfield will draw on these capabilities for developing
our EV platforms and will also plan to share some EV platforms in the future”
Also speaking about this partnership, Stark Future Founder and CEO, Anton Wass says, “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. 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. 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.”
