WEBVTT - EV Innovation on the Open Road

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<v Speaker 1>You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and

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<v Speaker 1>Tim Stenebek on Bloomberg Radio alone there on the highway.

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<v Speaker 1>All right, I don't even think I can introduce this one.

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<v Speaker 1>I think this is all yours, buddy.

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<v Speaker 2>All right.

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<v Speaker 3>So, Matt Chambers is a guy who became famous, or

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<v Speaker 3>at least well known to me, when he made Confederate motorcycles.

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<v Speaker 3>They were, you know, big displacement twins cruisers, and at

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<v Speaker 3>one point he kind of made this really cool pivot

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<v Speaker 3>to electric bikes and also changed the name to Curtis.

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<v Speaker 3>And I was following along this whole saga on social media.

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<v Speaker 3>I just thought it was so cool and the motorcycles

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<v Speaker 3>are beautiful. And then one day I was sitting on

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<v Speaker 3>my couch in Berlin and I saw that they were

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<v Speaker 3>actually offering shares for sale to the public, not through

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<v Speaker 3>like a Wall Street IPO, but kind of like a

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<v Speaker 3>power to the people way to invest.

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<v Speaker 1>And you did said.

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<v Speaker 3>Yes and clicked in bought shares and Curtis. So now

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<v Speaker 3>I am full disclosure.

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<v Speaker 1>Yes a shareholder, Matthew, come on in and tell us

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<v Speaker 1>a little bit about the business, and to one of

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<v Speaker 1>your shareholders into our audience if you will.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, that's that's great to hear. Thanks for having me on. Yeah.

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<v Speaker 2>We spent twenty five years in this what I would

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<v Speaker 2>call kind of the AMG, aification of Harley wanting to

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<v Speaker 2>if Harley was the Mercedes and motorcycles, and we would

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<v Speaker 2>soup them up a little bit. We did a really

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<v Speaker 2>good job with that. We learned a lot. It was

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<v Speaker 2>like an apprenticeship and we kind of hit the end

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<v Speaker 2>of the road in terms of being able to make

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<v Speaker 2>a better IC. And on June twenty ninth of twenty sixteen,

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<v Speaker 2>we made a firm pivot, got rid of everything to

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<v Speaker 2>do with IC, cleansed our minds, and went one hundred

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<v Speaker 2>percent into the dream of making the best motorcycle in

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<v Speaker 2>the world and and it would just happen to be electric,

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<v Speaker 2>and and we were. We did. We did a lot

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<v Speaker 2>of work on our own, with our own, with the

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<v Speaker 2>team we had at the time. Then I got this

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<v Speaker 2>gentleman JT to come back, who had done a bike.

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<v Speaker 2>Matt you probably know that bike the Rate. It was

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<v Speaker 2>a pretty interesting motorcycle that we conjured it. It was

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<v Speaker 2>very aircrafty. Then we did the Fighter. It had all

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<v Speaker 2>this machine stuff going on and it's a very precise,

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<v Speaker 2>a more precise way to make a bike. And then

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<v Speaker 2>JT invented this patented idea, this idea of tapping the axle,

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<v Speaker 2>the shaft through the motor some actually making a motorcycle symmetrical,

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<v Speaker 2>the dream of an inside out made organic machine. It

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<v Speaker 2>just all came together. So now it's about two years

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<v Speaker 2>later than I thought. But we're very close, Matt, and

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<v Speaker 2>thank you for being a shareholder. And I believe we're

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<v Speaker 2>going to do really, really really well. Well.

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<v Speaker 3>One thing, I one day I would like to ride

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<v Speaker 3>one of the bikes, because in so many ways you

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<v Speaker 3>challenge the norms of you know, the peril twin parallel forks,

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<v Speaker 3>and the way a swing arm works and the drive

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<v Speaker 3>shaft as you say, and how does it handle when

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<v Speaker 3>you get out and ride this bike, or what is

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<v Speaker 3>the feedback that you get from people who are testing

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<v Speaker 3>these out?

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<v Speaker 2>Matt? If you, if you had the experience of being

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<v Speaker 2>in the business for a long time like me, one

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<v Speaker 2>of the things you one of the things that would

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<v Speaker 2>be troublesome is all of the shunt from the first

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<v Speaker 2>time I saw one of our bikes, and our bikes

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<v Speaker 2>were packaged better than than the others. I mean, we

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<v Speaker 2>we invented our own packaging with with the ice and

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<v Speaker 2>the V twin, it was better. We turned it into

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<v Speaker 2>a monocoque. It was a far better way to make

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<v Speaker 2>a motorcycle. But man, when you would when you would

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<v Speaker 2>run that thing on a dino, it was it was

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<v Speaker 2>shunty and violent. And what we've with JG's invention and

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<v Speaker 2>the symmetry, the bike is a little more balanced, it's

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<v Speaker 2>a little more beautiful. But even more importantly, I believe,

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<v Speaker 2>is it has it. The way you access the power

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<v Speaker 2>is just so sublime, and it gives the bike a

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<v Speaker 2>little more fidelity, It gives you more confidence. So the

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<v Speaker 2>experience of riding it is I believe, the best that

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<v Speaker 2>I've ever encountered on a motorcycle. I'm very confident that

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<v Speaker 2>this is the best motor So.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm just going to ask you some business questions. I mean,

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<v Speaker 1>how much have you how many are you selling, what's

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<v Speaker 1>the growth rate that you're seeing, and what do they cost?

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<v Speaker 2>Well, the bike, the bike is a hyper luxury item

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<v Speaker 2>and that plays into our deck. We have about thirteen

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<v Speaker 2>hundred customers and those are pretty much all Ultra hid network,

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<v Speaker 2>So we and we have enough to break even the

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<v Speaker 2>first year. I believe it's about twenty five firm, and

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<v Speaker 2>we have another one hundred and five to sell. We're

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<v Speaker 2>thinking really small, so we believe we will ultimately be

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<v Speaker 2>the most valuable American motorcycle company by say, twenty thirty,

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<v Speaker 2>more valuable than Live Wire, I mean electric motorcycle company.

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<v Speaker 2>And the way we're going to do that is by

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<v Speaker 2>doing by hitting a bogie of fifty million of sales

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<v Speaker 2>around twenty seven to twenty eight, but bringing in a

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<v Speaker 2>thirty but a thirty percent even doe fifty percent gross margins.

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<v Speaker 2>So we're right now we're hitting about one hundred thousand

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<v Speaker 2>of net revenue per unit, and our costs will be

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<v Speaker 2>will be south of fifty thousands. We have a good margin,

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<v Speaker 2>so it's kind of a Tesla coming at hyper luxury.

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<v Speaker 2>Our next product will be sixty. We're very comfortable we

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<v Speaker 2>can hit the thirty thousand dollars cost of good sold

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<v Speaker 2>on that product in twenty twenty seven. But the first

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<v Speaker 2>thing is these one hundred and thirty initial customers.

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<v Speaker 1>And.

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<v Speaker 2>We feel like we've got them already. We do have

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<v Speaker 2>two thousand qualified expressions of interest along with our deck

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<v Speaker 2>of owners, numerous of whom have said they will be

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<v Speaker 2>buying a bike. But as Matt, you probably would agree

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<v Speaker 2>that the transfer from ice to electric is it's something

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<v Speaker 2>that an individual has to come up with in his

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<v Speaker 2>own time. I worked with a guy named Treblanche for

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<v Speaker 2>for years, and he pounded me out and he used

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<v Speaker 2>to just beat me to death about we got to

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<v Speaker 2>go electric, and I was like, shut up, dude, I

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<v Speaker 2>hate him. And then then one day a light went off,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, I finally you know, he was right the

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<v Speaker 2>whole time. But it's not it's it's funny.

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<v Speaker 3>I think you're right. Yeah, it takes I think it

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<v Speaker 3>takes a long time, but then when it happens, it's

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<v Speaker 3>like a switch is flipped and then all of a

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<v Speaker 3>sudden you kind of realize the benefits.

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<v Speaker 1>Not to say that.

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<v Speaker 3>You, you know, throw away all of your love for the

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<v Speaker 3>bikes you've ridden in the past. The internal combustion engines,

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<v Speaker 3>but it's just a whole new experience, and I'm so excited.

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<v Speaker 3>I'm so happy that you guys are doing this, and

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<v Speaker 3>I'm so glad we could have had you on.

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<v Speaker 2>Matt, thank you so much. We really appreciate it so Ippeciate.

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<v Speaker 1>Wait, so just because folks in our control are wondering,

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<v Speaker 1>so how much does it? Say? How much does one cost?

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<v Speaker 1>I know you said hyper luxury. You just got about

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<v Speaker 1>thirty seconds.

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<v Speaker 2>It's one hundred and twenty thousand. That's where it starts

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<v Speaker 2>and it can certainly go up from there. But if

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<v Speaker 2>you see the bike, Carol, it's worth it's worth it.

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<v Speaker 2>I say it. It's lovely.

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<v Speaker 1>I said to Matt before we get started. I was

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<v Speaker 1>on your website. They are gorgeous and they are unlike

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<v Speaker 1>anything else you see when it comes to if you're

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<v Speaker 1>looking at bikes and.

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<v Speaker 3>The engineering is revolutionary and the machining is so precise,

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<v Speaker 3>it's just that it will last you for all of

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<v Speaker 3>a turn.

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<v Speaker 1>I was asking for our community. Matt, thank you so much.

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<v Speaker 1>Come back soon. Matt Chambers. He's chief executive Officer, Chairman

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<v Speaker 1>of the board of Curtis Motorcycle. Ticker is CMOT and

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<v Speaker 1>he's joining us from Leeds, Alabama via zoom. Carol, Matthew Miller,

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<v Speaker 1>Matt's got a smile. This is Bloomberg