FANTIC MOTOR CEO MARIANO ROMAN INTERVIEW: Ten Years In

MV Agusta, Indian, Norton, Moto Morini, Brough Superior, Horex and most recently BSA - the contents of the freezer section of motorcycling's history store have gradually been defrosted over the past quarter century, repackaged in a modern context and restored to today's marketplace. The process began 35 years ago with the relaunched Triumph, but one of the most successful comebacks has taken place over the past decade with barely anyone noticing. That's how long it's taken for Italy's Fantic Motor to be transformed under astute new management and careful investment into a serious growth brand in the off-road and dual-purpose markets, now sold globally through more than 1000 dealers in over 50 different countries

- Alan Cathcart

Revitalised in 2014 after acquisition by its present owners, Fantic Motor has steadily built volume year-on-year, with over 16,000 motorcycles and 35,000 e-bikes sold in 2023.

Thirty-eight per cent of them in Italy, including 1550 examples of the Caballero 700, the company's first twin-cylinder model powered by the Yamaha MT-07 motor supplied directly to Fantic by the Japanese manufacturer. This availability came on the back of Fantic purchasing Yamaha's Bologna-based engine subsidiary Motori Minarelli in October 2020, thus turning itself into a proper manufacturer capable of building 100 per cent of its motorcycles in-house.

It's done this while following the same strategy as its much larger Austrian counterpart KTM by focusing on racing, so that in 2023 Fantic Racing won 13 titles, including the J1 Enduro World Championship with Manx rider Jed Etchells, who won 12 of the 14 rounds and finished second in the other two. He also won the Junior Enduro World crown, while Swedish teammate Albin Norrbin won the J2 Enduro World title, and Italy's Kevin Cristino the Youth Enduro World Championship. Britain's Jane Daniells won the Women's World Enduro Championship for the fourth time (twice with Fantic), winning each of the eight rounds, and followed that by finishing her debut Dakar Rally in a remarkable 48th place out of the 96 finishers (from 132 starters) on her Fantic XEF 450 Rally, and in doing so was the top British rider and winner of the Women's Class as the only female finisher. And at the other end of the age scale, 66-year-old Italian off-road legend Franco Picco rode his Fantic to 72nd place out of 124 finishers in the 2022 Dakar, then retired to become team manager for the Italian factory!