How We Built an Automotive OEM of the Future

Originally published: 21st August 2025

Here’s how we brought the C-Series concept to life.

It was never going to be a business idea you could simply sketch out on the back of a napkin. But even after seven years of endless hurdles – even after our first taste of commercial success – it sometimes still feels like we were jumping off a cliff with only a sketch of wings, trusting that one of our engineering wizards would figure out how to make them work before we hit the ground.

So what was it that kept us afloat through all those sleepless nights, and the hundreds of tough decisions that nobody seemed to notice at the time? It’s impossible to list (or even remember) all the factors that kept Savic Motorcycles going – aside from the obvious hard work of an underpaid team, the generosity of friends, and the bloody-mindedness of our singularly determined founder.

What follows is a simplified version of our journey as one of the few automotive OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) to have emerged in Australia in recent years. It skips over all the sleepless nights, the stress and the tears, the months of living on two-minute noodles and blind conviction. This is the ‘recipe’ in its purest form. (The reality is a lot messier, of course – but we think it also makes it worth the telling.)

Stage 1: A vision born of sacrifice

It all kicks off with a foggy direction in mind, but for Dennis Savic one thing was crystal clear: this motorcycle was going to be different. Not a reskinned replica of something already out there – the C-Series needed its own style, its own DNA, and a clear commitment to remaining timeless.

Dennis sold his car to take the first steps, and with that small capital injection, he retrofitted a simple EV powertrain into a Yamaha R1 frame – just to see if it would work.

It wasn’t polished. It wasn’t perfect. But it did work, and it paved the way for what would eventually become Savic Motorcycles.

Stage 2: People who believe without guarantees

When the bank account is thin, you can’t hire a crew of engineers on huge salaries. You have to find people who don’t ask “what’s the pay?”, but who see the same end goal and want in regardless of their imminent penury.

These people make sacrifices you’ll never forget. They give up their weekends, work late into the night, and sometimes take no pay at all – all because they believe in the mission. At Savic, these were the “true believers” and, while some came along for a portion of the ride, some have stuck with it through Hell and high water.

If you can find a team like this to be by your side, you have the first ingredient of your recipe right there!

Left to right: Dennis Savic, Kim Suandee and Adrian Vinovrski in 2020 – the first three team members to join the company full time.

Stage 3: Selling a future that doesn’t yet exist

With any startup, once you have your direction and your team, the next – and arguably most important – ingredient is capital. This time you will need a little more than your secondhand WRX. The reality is that you’ll be asking people to invest in something that’s still being built, even while you’re still figuring it out yourself.

Investors need to see concrete progress and enough momentum to believe in the vision. That means moving fast, iterating faster, and making every dollar count – showing that each prototype is a meaningful step forwards on the path to commercial success.

Stage 4: The tough, never-ending prototype loop

After assembling the right team, and with the money to now fund the next big step,  you’ll be ready to take on the journey. This involves settling in to a relentless rhythm:

build → test → fail → fix → repeat.

For the Savic team, each prototype was another set of lessons learned. Some days brought breakthroughs, while others felt indisputably like setbacks. Each iteration pushed us closer, towards our current day C-Series now rolling out to customers, being ridden on Australian roads!

Stage 5: Finding the sweet spot to commit

One of the hardest calls is knowing when R&D stops and production begins. It’s tempting to keep tweaking forever – but capital has its limits.

For us, that time came during 2022: passing ADR compliance, finalising our bespoke ABS system, and committing to the first production castings, one of our biggest investments yet. It was daunting, but it turned the dream into a product – and we were now locked in!

This 2022 machined aluminium chassis was the last build before Savic officially committed to the design and the first cast aluminium components were made.

Stage 6: Navigating the regulatory maze

Once you have a working vehicle, the challenge of bureaucracy is around the next corner: passing a long list of government regulations and safety certifications before your “baby” can hit the road.

One milestone I’ll never forget was watching a team member legally ride the first C-Series to VicRoads to be registered. From a welded‑together frame with donor parts… to a compliant, road‑ready motorcycle. That was a moment to seriously stop and savour.

Stage 7: Building a company, not just a bike

The bike might be the spark, but the business is the engine.

Preparing an auto company for production brings another long list of challenges: developing systems, building an assembly line, hiring technicians, establishing quality controls, and creating a customer experience you can genuinely be proud of. Investors back you to grow a profitable business – not just release one great vehicle. 

Stage 8: Customers – the heartbeat of your success

Those first riders of the C-Series weren’t just customers – they were our first believers. Their support proved that our vision had a market and helped us keep building.

One of the things that sets Savic Motorcycles apart is the commitment across the business to our customers’ happiness. Even our most product-focused “techies” know that looking after our customers holds the key to everything.

For our engineers, feedback from our early customers has been vital in helping us refine our suspension and handling, the lights and handlebars, the whole vibe of the bike. For our coders, customer feedback has told us what we need to convey through our software, our dash and our app. For our marketers, public comments have shown us when we got our messaging right – and when we were simply missing the mark!

Renowned technology founder Marc Alexander has been with us as a mentor and test rider since our earliest years – and recently started operating as our CTO.

Our customers have become a community around the company that’s given us everything: engagement at events and ride days and a resounding sense of faith and belief that’s kept us going through thick and thin. Today, it really feels like we have a family around us – a group of fans who are backing us because we stuck with it, defied the naysayers, and delivered something that the whole of Australia can truly be proud of.

The “golden rule”: reflect, then keep moving

But it’s crucially important, especially during those tough times, to take a step back and reflect on what your team has achieved. Remember all those milestones – the little wins that have pushed you down the road, and together amount to something far bigger than themselves.

This image hangs framed on the wall at our Melbourne HQ – the hugely symbolic moment when the SM1 platform rode for the first time. It wasn’t fast and was a little underwhelming – but for the team, that moment meant everything.

When you’ve put everything into one product and one company, it’s easy – indeed quite natural – to fixate on the problems and challenges that still lie ahead. But building something big requires balance: addressing each challenge head on, while recognising the incredible job that your team is doing, and remembering all the progress you’ve made so far.

This kind of reflection is so much more than a little pat on the back. It’s the spark that can reignite motivation and drive, generating the energy to tackle the next day’s challenges – and the one after that…

A blueprint for success

After navigating all the struggles – and surviving all the pitfalls – our team has transitioned from those early days of "successful failures" into a new era, rolling out our C-Series to a new generation of electric motorcyclists.

What started as a dream and a sketch has become a living, breathing company delivering high-performance vehicles that rival the best on Earth. And this is just the beginning. If you’re already part of our journey, thank you so much for fuelling it. Savic Motorcycles is no longer just a vision. We’re an unstoppable part of the world's electric future.

Discover our story in detail:

See our prototype timeline and journey summary

Experience the C-Series to date:

View the bike in our configurator

Test ride the C-Series for yourself!