Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/972780
VOL. 55 ISSUE 16 APRIL 24, 2018 P115 finest and best-run company I have yet worked with, and it's especially been a pleasure to know Mr. Lai and his son, who, ever since they first came to visit me in December 2016, have given clear instructions about the project, and displayed both passion and wisdom in following its creation. I do have considerable experience of working in China, and they and their company are on a higher level in terms of understand- ing Western markets than any other manufacturer there I've yet had deal- ings with." That's praise indeed. The details of Marconi's design may be officially undisclosed, but it's evident from looking at it that this could readily reach production as a power-up big brother of CFMoto's current strong-selling 650NK Naked roadster. The composite frame with a tubular steel upper space- frame attached to large aluminum engine plates comprising the pivot for the single-sided swingarm is a KTM president Stefan Pierer will keep KTM and CFMoto as two separate independent entities. former Bimota and Benelli designers. "Yes, it's true that we created the Concept model here in Cesena, using the KTM LC8 V-twin engine as the basis of it," said Marconi. "However, the terms of my contract with CFMoto absolutely forbid me to discuss the details of this with [anyone], so I can't say any more, except for one thing: CFMoto is the Gerald Kiska has lately designed all your current models, including establishing CF Moto's very strong visual identity—although this is based on the color blue, not orange! But I understand that you worked with a different styling studio in Italy on the Concept bike, and that this was created by former Bimota designers working under Pierluigi Marconi. Is that true? Yes. However, on all our production bikes, the overall design concept is by Mr. Kiska, and he sets the design paths, as well as playing a very important role in the relationship between KTM and CFMoto. Although we still have our own design people in CFMoto for the development of new models, Mr. Kiska can help us a lot, and he is our strong collaborator in creating the family of new CFMoto models. Working with KTM is our principal collaboration that we must maintain. But sometimes he is so busy, so we must also seek the possibility of working with other design companies, also for a fresh look to our models such as was provided by Mr. Martini with the Concept bike. Because by working with another design company, we can have a different concept to our styling which will help differentiate our models visually from KTM's. A critical element in the relation- ship is that we must create a different position in different sectors for each of the two distinct brands, and this means producing different types of machine. CFMoto has already produced a 650cc Touring bike, and we are currently in the second phase of our twin-cylinder CF650G Escort motorcycle, for which we supplied 21 examples to our Govern- ment to accompany President Donald Trump's cavalcade from the airport, and other escort duties during his four-day stay in our country. So this will be our first step with the 1000cc V-twin—we'll start with a touring bike that can also be used for Escort duties. Did your planned stock market flo- tation of the CFMoto take place last year, and if so, was it successful? I'm proud to tell you that this went ahead exactly as scheduled, CF Moto went public on August 18th at the Shang- hai Stock Exchange. So, we sold 33 million shares, representing 25% of our total capital, since when the stock price has remained somewhat stable around the 35RMB issue price, so we're happy with that. By going public, we believe that it will create more potential for the further develop- ment of CFMoto. After we went public, our current market value of the company is positioned around 5 billion RNB [US$ 800 million], so that's a huge increase. What plans do you have for the fu- ture of CF Moto? Did your plan to sell only 25% of the equity indicate your desire to keep it independent, or are you interested in selling it to a larger company, either in China or outside— perhaps to KTM in view of your joint venture with them? Actually, after the successful IPO we made some minor adjustments in our strategy, which overall will not have a big change. We will stick to our core values of manufacturing quality and high value engineering for both our motorcycles and ATVs, while also continuing to focus on larger capacity motorcycles through our partnership with KTM. Alongside increas- ing our production capacity with our new factory, we are aiming at expanding our distribution network both at home and abroad. Our vision remains becoming one of the world's leading powersports suppliers. Author Alan Cathcart interviews Mr. Guogui.