Steve Harris, the founder of Harris Performance in the UK, died in June aged 73. His early work as a welder included F1 Lotus chassis building. He started his own business in 1972 and with brother Lester and fellow director Steve Bayford set up Harris Performance selling approximately 2,000 Harris Magnum frame kits in five versions, plus making numerous frames to order. Paying customers included world champion Barry Sheene. Harris was involved at world championship Grand Prix level, WSB and with a MotoGP project for Sauber Petronas. Recent work included chassis design for Royal Enfield singles and twins. In 2015 Harris Performance was bought by Royal Enfield.
The fifth edition of the European KTM Rally will be staged in the south of France with the city of Quillan in the French Pyrenees as the base from 14-17 of September. For 2022, the flagship KTM community event is limited to 150 riders. Entry is open to any KTM Adventure or Enduro R model owner.
Yamaha announced that it is accelerating its carbon neutrality goal for its factories - including those overseas - to 2035. This represents a 15-year jump as the original target year to achieve carbon neutrality in the revised Yamaha Motor Group Environmental Plan 2050 announced in July 2021 was 2050. To achieve the new goal, it will push initiatives centred on minimising energy use as well as relying on cleaner energy. The projected result of these moves by 2035 is a 92% reduction in CO2 emissions (compared to 2010). Remaining CO2 emissions will be offset by internationally recognised methods to achieve the plan by 2035.
Together with Siemens Energy, Porsche and a line-up of international companies are implementing a pilot project in Chile that is expected to yield the world's first integrated, commercial, industrial-scale plant for making synthetic climate-neutral fuels (e-fuels). In the pilot phase, around 130,000 litres of e-fuels will be produced as early as this year. In two further phases, capacity is then to be increased to about 55 million litres of e-fuels a year by 2024, and around 550 million litres by 2026. Porsche will be the primary customer for the green fuel and will use it in beacon projects. Those include using the e-fuel in vehicles for Porsche motorsports, at the Porsche Experience Centres and possibly also in serial production sports cars. The project takes advantage of the availability of wind energy in southern Chile and the fuel will allow vehicles with combustion engines, including motorcycles, to be operated almost climate-neutrally. Porsche has recently increased its stake in e-fuels group HIF Global, which is planning a potential A$1bn production plant in Australia to make e-fuels, modelled on the plant in southern Chile. Ducati is said to be eyeing e-fuels too - both Porsche and Ducati are subsidiaries of the Volkswagen Audi Group (VAG).
Piaggio Group Americas has opened its first complete all-brand retail concept in Canada - Motos Illimitees in Montreal. The flagship is an exclusive Piaggio Group retail location featuring Aprilia, Moto Guzzi, Piaggio and Vespa motorcycles and scooters - showcasing their "global vision of an elevated two-wheeled dealership experience. Together under one roof, the MotoPlex retail concept provides service, accessories, merchandising and entertainment to give customers a unique global two-wheeled experience".
Hero MotoCorp, which has an R&D presence in Munich and styles itself as "the world's largest manufacturer of motorcycles and scooters", has strengthened its operations in Turkey with the introduction of Euro 5 compliant variants of its three globally popular products - the Xpulse 200 4V motorcycle and Dash 110 and Dash 125 scooters. Hero's distributor in Turkey since 2014 is The Soysal Group.
Sources: AMD, IDN, FT, Reuters, PSB, MPN, BDN, MCN, AP, Bloomberg, MSNW, Electrek, electricmotorcycles.news, RideApart.com, Motor1.com, Cycle World, motorbikewriter.com
