Milan-based GR1T Motorcycles is preparing the G1S Street and G1X Scrambler, daily-performance electric motorcycles. We have been following the project for some time, and as the motorcycles are now in the advanced stages of development, this was the right time to sit with the founding team to hear their story.
Deepesh Rathore: Thank you so much, Marco (MS), Omar (OA), and Philip (PA). Between the three of you, who does what at GR1T?
Omar Abukhlal: So, Philip is our CFO, I am the CEO, and Marco is our CTO.
Marco Savelli: But as you know, Deepesh, a startup requires everyone to do a bit of everything. So roles are not limited in their view. Philip does a bit of everything. Omar does a bit of everything. I do whatever is required in the specific situation- what is the priority, etc.
DR: How did the idea for GR1T motorcycle start? Take us through the journey.
OA: The journey started at the beginning of 2022. We began working on a lightweight off-road electric motorcycle, similar in spirit to a Sur-Ron but German-engineered. Philip joined the team in late 2022, and Jamal, our investor, came on board in late 2023.
As we further developed the light off-road category, we ran into real limitations. Range, cost, and weight didn’t line up with what riders actually need. That pushed us to step back and ask ourselves which electric category is underserved.
The urban and suburban rider gave us the clearest path. It’s a category where long-range isn’t a deal-breaker and riders favour reliability and a bike that doesn’t compromise on looks or performance. That’s where GR1T was born, and it’s the category we’ve built the whole platform around since.
We started in October 24 with our first contact with our engineering partner, where Marco was working. He has been with GR1T from the very start of the new project. That means from the white-sheet-of-paper stage.
It’s been an interesting journey. We started designing the bike on October 24, and by June 25 we had our prototype on the road.
DR: So the actual design and development program of the motorcycle took less than one year?
OA: It took less than a year.
MS: There was a very well-detailed market analysis and a vehicle brief. Let’s say the idea of the specs, the type of vehicle, and the key selling points. So the “main aspects that would drive interest from the market” document, on October 24, started the vehicle concept and styling activity, prototype engineering, and prototype build. That lasted less than one year, and we had a fully assembled running prototype in June 25.
From there, GR1T started multiple activities. In the meantime, the engineering team went on to improve the weak points, improve reliability, improve the powertrain, and improve performance, which obviously requires some loops, as you know. Where we are today is with three prototypes that are based on the same chassis and powertrain platform but with different aesthetics and customer types, as you’ve probably seen on the website. So we now have three running prototypes. We keep on testing them, and we keep displaying them at trade shows, exhibiting at trade shows, and mostly presenting to investors for fundraising activities.
DR: I’ve seen the specs of the motorcycles, and you’re targeting 11 kW nominal and 27 kW peak, right?
MS: Correct.
DR: And there seems to be a target price of about €7,000. How evolved is the market at that price point in Europe? How big is the market? What do you think are the prospects?
OA: From speaking with potential customers, dealers, and people who have test-ridden the bike, the €7,000 price point is very strong, at least here in Europe. Getting real people on the bike to test it was actually critical to validating this. We’ve had Italian, French, and German riders test it, and they’re consistently surprised that the starting price is €7,000, well below what some competitors offer.
It’s competitive even against Chinese brands. The Vmoto Stash, for example, retails at almost the same price once you include VAT, so we’re looking at a difference of around €500 on price alone. But we come in at a similar price point with higher specs, removable batteries, and tech they don’t offer. We’re confident in our positioning.
MS: From my perspective, we wanted to avoid a mistake that many other startups have made, which was to fall in love with the product itself, the features, creating fantastic design, investing a lot in marketing, and losing control of the material costs, the price point on the market, and more generally the financial side of the startup itself. So burning cash like crazy and later finding hard moments during the journey. Focussing on costs – development and material costs – was one of the priorities for GR1T to make sure that the product will still be appealing to the market when it is ready and available for delivery. I think Philip has a much better idea on the ramp-up of the volumes, which was your original question, in terms of how quickly and how big the volumes are expected for the next few years?
Philip Ammerman: Deepesh, are you interested in market volumes or production volumes or our sales forecast?
DR: I’m looking at Europe. If you look at the market at about €7,000, how much choice do the customers have? How big is the customer pool? You know, you’re targeting a certain part of the market.
PA: We have to answer this question in light of the technical specifications of the motorcycle. We’re roughly at the midpoint if you take conventional performance ICE motorcycles. There are definitely heavy mopeds or heavy scooters which, to some extent, share some of the range, and then, of course, above us there are motorcycles with much greater engine and much greater capacity. But on the electric side, we occupy a very interesting place, because with the battery, the motor, acceleration, and the torque, we are not in one category. We cut across categories, which makes things a little bit more interesting on the target market side.
If we just take conventional motorcycles, Europe has roughly one and a half million new sales per year. Of those, we estimate about 200,000 are electric, and of that we estimate 60% are in our category or above, so motorcycles with our capability or above. On the electric side, though, there are very few heavy motorcycles available for sale, and they have not met with a very good reception, because the price gets quite high due to battery and motor costs, and the range is still limited versus a standard motorcycle.
I would say that right now we have a total addressable market (TAM) in Europe of probably at least 40,000 units a year, poaching from the lower moped side, where we have 200 kg mopeds but still with performance lower than ours, and then going up to 300cc motorcycles. The segment is growing. There’s new acceptance, and the greater the fluctuation in the price of oil, the higher the acceptance goes.
As we advance, we’re really at this technological turning point where we expect the price of batteries to come down significantly, just like the price of photovoltaic panels came down significantly about 15 years ago. So I think we’re really at the beginning of this wave of electrification. More and more people will trust electric mopeds and motorcycles. The range will increase, the battery durability will increase, and so we’re really very comfortable about where we are, market-wise and positioning-wise. As Omar mentioned, we’re already price competitive against Chinese lightweight competitors even at our higher spec level.
DR: From what I have seen of the motorcycles and your specifications, these are high-quality. Then how are you able to price it so competitively against the Chinese? That is intriguing because at €7,000 and with the specifications that you have, it is quite competent.
PA: So, a couple of really simple answers. One, we source a lot of our equipment on the open market, and that means that we do have Chinese suppliers who are incredibly competitive, and we’re working quite closely with them on design specifications. We tried in the past to source from Europe, and it was a bit more difficult.
So number one, we’re using a lot of open market parts. We’re not stuck in investments like engine plants or our own battery plants or stuff like that, which only become useful after a certain break-even.
But I think the main answer is the fact that we are built to order. So unlike Harley-Davidson, unlike Sur-Ron, unlike our competitors, we’re not building and then sending to distributors where it’s going to sit in inventory before being sold. We are using an onshore manufacturing model. We’re onshore in Europe. We’re using just-in-time lead manufacturing, and we’re offering customization on the bike. So, we’re offering way more customization options to customers in terms of color, tires, parts, etc. This means that well over 98%, or possibly 99%, of our output is made to order, which means we have much lower inventory costs. The way we’ve set up our assembly plant and the technology that we integrate into it means that we can supply very efficiently.
Beyond that, we’re quite frugal. We’re not making huge investments in manufacturing facilities. We’re targeting secondhand factories that we renovate and use, and we scale up in line with our production commitments and our order book. In general, we’re using all of the lessons that a lot of other automotive and motorcycle manufacturers have learned but have probably forgotten in the golden age of European manufacturing, which was ultimately very expensive, very high volume, and with a lot of waste built into the process.
DR: What about the suppliers? Where does your supply base sit? Is it mostly Europe-based, or are you global, like sourcing also from Asia?
MS: For the key powertrain components and electronic components, it’s an area where Chinese suppliers have developed technology, scale, and a quality that makes it difficult to pick suppliers from elsewhere.
So most of the electric powertrain components are coming from Chinese suppliers. The rest of the bike is more developed, using European suppliers for everything: metallic plastics, chassis, and bodywork components. So it’s a mix.
DR: Where are we in the journey now? Are we getting ready for homologation?
PA: We’re still in the process of fundraising to continue the development. We’re raising a round of €7 million to set up in Europe, especially Italy. Our entire development schedule basically depends on closing this round. From the time we close the round, we will be producing within 12 months, and homologation will be complete within 10 months. So we’re quite close.
DR: This would be the first funding round, right, or did you raise anything before?
PA: That is our Series A funding round. Jamal has been our angel investor until now, and we’re very thankful for his support.
What we need to do now is to go from prototype to market. That requires industrial equipment, a rented facility, moulds and tooling for the parts, working capital, staff, and commissioning costs.
DR: Absolutely, I understand that. Once the funding is raised, it’s about a one-year journey from there for homologation and testing, right?
PA: Yes, that’s right. It may be sooner, depending on the state of our equipment orders from suppliers.
DR: I have noticed when talking to companies like Livewire and Zero that there is a declining passion for performance motorcycles. So people are not buying very large motorcycles. The GR1T is not a large motorcycle, more of a midsize performance motorcycle. Do you see a greater prospect for your category, or do you see challenges in the future?
OA: The reason we entered this category is that we see real potential in it. If you look at the European market, there are a lot of changes happening on the regulatory side. Low-emission zones are expanding, and the ICE ban is coming in the next few years. So there’s a tailwind telling us that demand for electric two-wheelers, or other forms of propulsion, is being legislated. The demand is, to a certain extent, being created by regulation.
As I said earlier, we see electric making the most sense in two places. Off-road, because of the instant torque, where range isn’t such a big factor. And in the city, where daily commutes rarely exceed 30 to 40 kilometers, range doesn’t play a major role there either. That mid-range category we’re targeting sits right at the intersection of both, and it’s what makes our platform approach so powerful.
Motorcycles are a product people want because of the emotional effect they have. There’s a lot of emotion tied to riding, the feeling of freedom, and so on. But in Europe, in a lot of countries, it’s also about practicality. In the southern states, Italy, Spain, and France, mopeds and motorcycles are a way of life. We chose this segment on purpose. Our competitors went in and developed bikes that are more powerful and heavier, but that still offer only slightly more range, and they were designed to replace ICE bikes in their category. They’ve struggled, because for an ICE rider to switch to electric, the electric has to be better. Even if it offers a handful of advantages, if it doesn’t outperform overall, riders won’t switch.
The A1 category isn’t especially exciting on paper. Those are useful bikes, but not built for long rides or touring. They’re mostly used in the city, and we believe a well-built electric motorcycle can be a genuinely compelling substitute for that category. The feedback we’re getting confirms it. Combine all that, and as Philip said, we’re at the dawn of a new era. We feel very well positioned to do well in this category.
Our platform approach acts as a product diversifier but also mitigates our risk. It allows us to reach different customer categories and markets without any significant additional development cost. One chassis and powertrain platform lets us build a street model, an urban enduro, and a tactical variant off the same base, so we can serve city commuters and off-road riders without developing three separate motorcycles from scratch.
DR: I’ve recently been following the Ducati story with the Volkswagen Group in trouble, and I heard that the Italian government is offering support to Ducati for R&D purposes. Is that happening? Is the government really supportive of motorcycle development in Italy?
PA: Yes. There are various funds at a general level and on a sectoral level for innovation in Europe. A lot of this is technical innovation, or it’s innovation that relates to AI, mechatronics, and things like that. Companies like Ducati likely draw on some of this European funding. In our case, we’ve looked at this issue from multiple perspectives. We looked at it from the perspective of pure innovation with the European Innovation Council. We’ve looked at it at the national level with production-finance stipends and things like that, and a couple of other programs. We may be able to apply, but it’s going to be very minor, and it may introduce further distortions to our business plan. So at the moment we don’t plan on European funding.
DR: Got it. For your 7 million raise, is there a specific audience that you are targeting?
PA: Yes. Our experience shows us that the people who are most likely to invest are people who love the idea of motorcycles and mobility. So people who probably come from the motorcycle sector or the wider transport sector, or are just interested in doing something new. We’ve tried to do the classical fundraising, like how deep tech companies do, and we haven’t been so successful because, among others, we don’t have revenue. So there’s a bit of a chicken-and-egg program problem. How do you raise funding to sell if you don’t have revenue already?
So, we’ve encountered this challenge. We’re in the fundraising process right now, and I’m fairly optimistic we’ll have some good results by the end of the year.