Yamaha Motor Europe and Fantic Motor are going to be brought closer together in a new deal that will enable the two companies to invest and develop electric powered urban mobility and motorcycles.
The two companies already have a strategic working partnership but the new deal is centres on utilising each other’s skills in an evolving industry where electric powertrains are becoming more commonplace and urban mobility - from small standing scoots to e-scooters - are becoming increasingly big business.
Announced in a press release that covers a ‘corporate buzzword bingo sheet’, the deal will see Yamaha Motor and Fantic Motor synergy to move the collaboration between the two companies to the next level in the fields of Motorcycle and e-mobility’.
The agreement means Fantic Motor has now acquired 100% of the shares in Motori Minarelli - an Italian engine builder - to accelerate development under its stewardship, with this arm of the business focused on e-powertrains.
Though it centres on Yamaha Motor Europe, the move reflects back on Yamaha’s global strategy, which ‘leverages on the increase of efficiency through the global deployment of engine platforms, and on the optimisation of production capacity through the consolidation of the combustion engine manufacturing in the main volume markets’.
While Yamaha needs no introduction as one of the world’s foremost motorcycle manufacturers, Fantic Motor is a more specialist and niche manufacturer offering a range of small to mid-displacement cafe racers, scramblers and enduro/trail/motocross machines which stand out with their unique ‘classic’ Italian flair.
Yamaha is yet to reveal how it intends to approach the upcoming shift towards electric power but did recently enter into an agreement with other members of the so-called 'Japanese Big Four' - Honda, Suzuki and Kawasaki - to centralise electric development to ensure standardising across the platforms (ie. charging sockets).
