International Dealer News IDN 140 December 2017 / January 2018 | Page 12

Back again - Bultaco signing dealers
for new breed of crossover bikes
he legendary Spanish off-
road motorcycle brand
Bultaco has a storied
place in motorcycle
history. From humble beginnings
by the ex Montesa race team
under the ownership of former
senior Montesa Director
Francesc ‘Paco’ Bulto, the
company was established as a
direct response to Montesa’s
decision to pull out of racing.
From 1959 the company made mostly
air-cooled two-stroke singles in
Barcelona until the factory closed for
a second and final time in 1983.
The first model was the 125cc Tralla
101 in 1959, and with long distance
speed records in the 1960s, World
Championships in the 1970s,
including eight consecutive World
Trials Championships thanks to
Sammy Miller’s help in developing
their lightweight two-strokes to
counter the four-stroke dominance in
trails riding up to that point, Bultaco
built a huge fan base in Europe, the
USA and elsewhere – their best
known model being the Sherpa T.
The name made a comeback in the
1990s, when Marc Tessier bought the
rights and sold Bultaco branded bikes
T
Brinco R
“robust off-road and
urban-proof chassis
configurations”
Albero (Urban
Moto-Bike)
built at his Sherco factory in France
before retiring the name in 2001.
Since then the rights to the brand lay
dormant.
However, in 2010 an entrepreneurial
team including first-rate international
professionals, with whom Jorge
Bonilla (current General Manager and
VP Sales & Marketing) founded an
engineering firm specialising in
mechanical and electronic design,
focused on developing its own
patents. Three years later they
consolidated the ownership of the
rights to form a new Bultaco
company, Bultaco Motors S.L., then,
on May 17th 2014, Bultaco
celebrated an emotional event in
London to announce its return to the
international motorcycle market.
Headquartered in Madrid, the
company has established a 2,000 sq m
production facility where some 30
plus staff (out of a total company-
wide team of 50 people, 20 of whom
are engineers) started series
production of a new range of the
Moto-Bikes, Bultaco Brinco, in
November 2015. The company has
now sold over 2,000 bikes, mostly in
Spain, UK and Benelux.
With financing of a stage II business
plan also now secured and 116
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INTERNATIONAL DEALER NEWS - DECEMBER 2017 / JANUARY 2018
dealerships (“Points of Sale”) already
established in 24 countries, the new
Bultaco company made its expo debut
at EICMA this year, showcasing its
growing range and successfully
meeting new importers and
distributors from right across Europe.
The new range includes two models,
Brinco (off-road) and Albero (urban),
in six versions, that demonstrate the
same ground-breaking concept: the
Moto-Bike. As Jorge describes it, the
Moto-Bike sits between conventional
motorcycles and bicycles in what he
describes as “an entirely new class
and sector of the market that is being
defined, developed and established
by our bikes and engineering. A hybrid
solution getting the most out of both
the motorcycle