Royal Enfield unveils new electric motorcycle – and its the perfect type

Published

6 months ago

November 7, 2024

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Royal Enfield’s biggest announcement at EICMA 2024 – the Milan Motorcycle Show – was undoubtedly the drop of its new electric motorcycle, the Flying Flea C6 and S6.

“Flying Flea” turned out to be the name of not just the new bike but the entire electric sub-brand launched by Royal Enfield, designed to encompass a range of light to middleweight urban electric motorcycles.

The first two models, the classicly-styled Flying Flea C6 and scrambler-styled Flying Flea S6, set the direction for the brand while positioning the type of rider and the type of ride that Royal Enfield has envisioned for its electric future.

One look at the new bike shows that it fits with Royal Enfield’s design heritage, borrowing several design cues and mixing them with the modern opportunities afforded by electric motorcycle design work freed from the traditional bounds of conventional frames and engines.

At the same time, a nod to history in the design mimics several now vestigial features, including an electric motor case that looks like a crankcase and bodywork that mimics a fuel tank.

We can see the obvious inspiration from the original Royal Enfield Flying Flea motorcycle of the 1940s, famously airdropped into WWII alongside paratroopers to provide lightweight and speedy battlefield mobility. From the girder fork to the vintage-style saddle, it’s a slick-looking ride. But appearances, however eye-catching, can only take Royal Enfield so far. For the new Flying Flea to become a commercial success, it will have to be backed up by the right specs at the right price.

And the team at Royal Enfield has an answer for that too. They just aren’t telling us yet.

While the unveiling was big on pomp and highlighted the brand’s focus on bringing accessibility to the commuter electric motorcycle market, the company isn’t quite ready to spill the details on specifics. Nearly the entirety of the bike’s spec sheet remains shrouded in mystery. The company doesn’t expect the bike to go on sale until Q1 2026, so we’ve got some time to get there.

However, we can still glean a lot from looks alone. The battery itself is rather small, physically, meaning it is unlikely to offer a terribly long range on a single charge. The narrow battery case likely implies a single row of cylindrical battery cells, limiting its total capacity. Perhaps two rows of cells could fit, but it’d be a tight squeeze. Either way you slice it, there’s just not a ton of space in between your knees for batteries. And that’s ok, as long as Royal Enfield has positioned the bike properly for its role. The company has repeatedly referred to the Flying Flea C6’s role as “city+”, meaning it’s designed primarily for urban commuting, with occasional excursions further out and onto faster roads.

This isn’t going to be a long-range highway commuter, but it will likely be sufficient for hopping on local highways for an exit or two. That’s peak commuter bike, right there.

Secondly, the motor isn’t all that large either. Physical size isn’t the only indication of power in an electric motor, but it’s usually a good corollary. This isn’t going to be laying down LiveWire-like 0-60 mph times of 3.0 seconds, which again, isn’t something a commuter bike is meant to do. If I were a betting man, I’d put the battery capacity at between 4-5 kWh and the peak motor power at under 15 kW (20 hp). I imagine the battery will be slightly smaller than most of us would want, but the power level is likely perfectly adequate for commuter-level requirements. With small batteries comes limited peak power, that’s just physics.

To put it simply, the specs are likely to be fine, but not breathtaking. And that’s ok. In fact, it’s what the market needs right now.

We’ve all watched as high-performance electric motorcycle companies have struggled, even gone bankrupt, trying to chase high speed and long range. That pursuit of performance is often a nearly impossible balancing act without seeing the price skyrocket. The current size and expense of batteries simply make it nearly impossible to shoehorn enough of them into a motorcycle-sized package and have something that looks good, let alone remains affordable.

Left: Royal Enfield Flying Flea C6; right: Royal Enfield Flying Flea S6

So instead of racing for the top, Royal Enfield has chosen the path less traveled these days: comfortably nestling into the sensible section of the market. With modest power and range figures comes modest pricing, and that’s Royal Enfield’s key to success. The company has long prided itself on building bikes that are accessible. And as many other companies have seen their sales stagnate or shrink, Royal Enfield has continued to grow in the last few years, reaching nearly a million units sold last year alone.

That combination of an eye for design mixed with sensible accessibility hasn’t just kept Royal Enfield afloat; it has helped the company prosper. And it just so happens that that’s exactly what the electric motorcycle market needs right now.

Fortunately – or more likely by design – this comes at a time when Royal Enfield is ready to take the risk. In candid discussions we had throughout the launch, it was underscored multiple times that Royal Enfield isn’t betting the farm on this. The company waited until they thought the time was right, but if the Flying Flea isn’t an immediate commercial success, we were assured that it wouldn’t drag the company down. That doesn’t mean the Royal Enfield team isn’t expecting success, but only that they’re not watching the world go by through rose-colored riding goggles either.

How much will the Flying Flea electric motorcycle cost?

This is the big question. More than “how fast?” and more than “how far?”, people want to know how much the Flying Flea C6 and S6 will cost.

And just like the performance specs, Royal Enfield isn’t ready to tell us. Depending on who I asked, they either know and aren’t saying yet, or they don’t even know it themselves.

But one thing is for sure, every member of Royal Enfield I questioned seemed to understand that pricing was going to be the critical factor here. They can see which machines have succeed and which have failed over the last few years. People went gangbusters over a $5,000 Metacycle (even if that bike proved too good to be true) and laughed in Can-Am’s face at their $14,000 commuter electric motorcycles.

If I had to guess, I can see Royal Enfield bringing the Flying Flea to market at between US $6,500 to $8,000. Discussions with leaders at Royal Enfield seemed to imply that the company is targeting multiple battery capacities and power levels to create various options for riders, meaning the entry-level model could be quite attractively priced, even if it must give up some range and top end to get there.

Ultimately, we don’t have much substance to judge the Flying Flea on yet. The bike looks great, at least in this journalist’s opinion. But once we can learn what’s going on under the hood and how many paychecks it will set us back, we can get a better idea of how well Royal Enfield can do on its first electric shot.

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Environment

Venmo revenue grows 20%, with debit card payment volume soaring

Published

3 hours ago

April 29, 2025

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Venmo revenue grows 20%, with debit card payment volume soaring

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Venmo, long a centerpiece of PayPal‘s growth story but often criticized for its lack of monetization, is becoming a bigger contributor to the business.

PayPal said Tuesday in its first-quarter earnings release that revenue at Venmo increased 20% year-over-year in the first quarter, though the company didn’t provide a dollar figure. PayPal acquired Venmo in 2013 through the acquisition of parent company Braintree.

While it’s long been a popular consumer service for sending money to friends, Venmo’s ability to drive meaningful revenue has been a major question mark for investors, especially as competition from rivals like Zelle and Square Cash has intensified.

Venmo’s total payment volume rose 10% from a year earlier, but revenue grew twice as fast, reflecting the business opportunity. Venmo only gets revenue from specific products like Pay with Venmo at online checkout, Venmo debit cards, and instant transfers, but not from peer-to-peer payments.

PayPal reports first-quarter earnings beat, maintains forecast

Published

3 hours ago

April 29, 2025

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PayPal reports first-quarter earnings beat, maintains forecast

CEO of PayPal Alex Chriss speaks during the Semafor 2025 World Economy Summit at Conrad Washington on April 24, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Alex Wong | Getty Images

PayPal reported better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter, but the company missed on revenue and reaffirmed its guidance for 2025 due to macro uncertainty. The stock fell about 2% in pre-market trading.

Here’s how the company did compared with Wall Street estimates, based on a survey of analysts by LSEG:

Earnings per share: $1.33, adjusted vs. $1.16 expected
Revenue: $7.79 billion vs. $7.85 billion expected

While sales increased just 1% from $7.7 billion a year earlier, PayPal said the results reflect a strategy to prioritize profitability over volume, rolling off lower-margin revenue streams.

Transaction margin dollars, the company’s key measure of profitability, grew 7% to $3.7 billion, marking the company’s fifth consecutive quarter of profitable growth under CEO Alex Chriss.

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PayPal shares are down 24% this year, while the Nasdaq has dropped 10%

Total payment volume, an indication of how digital payments are faring in the broader economy, missed estimates, coming in at $417.2 billion, versus the nearly $418 billion analysts projected. The number of active accounts rose 2% from a year earlier to 436 million.

Venmo revenue rose 20% year over year, though the company didn’t provide a dollar figure. Total payment volume for Venmo increased 10% to $75.9 billion. Pay with Venmo transaction volume climbed 50% in the quarter and Venmo debit card monthly active users increased by about 40%.

Chriss has focused on better monetizing key acquisitions like Braintree and Venmo. DoorDash, Starbucks and Ticketmaster are among businesses now accepting Venmo as one way that consumers can pay.

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Ahead of PayPal’s earnings report, some analysts had struck a cautious tone despite the company’s focus on margin expansion. Morgan Stanley analysts warned in a note on Monday that investor sentiment remained bearish due to the potential impact of tariffs, competitive pressure from Apple and Shopify, and the risk of a long-term slowdown in branded checkout growth.

Jefferies analysts highlighted PayPal’s China cross-border exposure as an emerging risk tied to potential new tariffs and changes to the de minimis exemption.

For the second quarter, PayPal issued better-than-expected guidance, forecasting adjusted earnings per share of $1.29 to $1.31, above the average analyst estimate of $1.21. Transaction margin dollars will increase 4% to 5% to between $3.75 billion and $3.8 billion, the company said.

However, for the full year, PayPal chose to reaffirm its guidance, citing “global macroeconomic uncertainty.” The company expects earnings per share of $4.95 to $5.10 for the year and free cash flow in the range of $6 billion to $7 billion.

PayPal shares are down 24% this year, while the Nasdaq has dropped 10%.

WATCH: PayPal’s crypto lead on allowing merchants to buy and sell virtual assets

Environment

BP profit falls sharply but CEO says oil major ‘off to a great start’ in strategy reset

Published

8 hours ago

April 29, 2025

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BP profit falls sharply but CEO says oil major 'off to a great start' in strategy reset

British oil and gasoline company BP (British Petroleum) signage is being pictured in Warsaw, Poland, on July 29, 2024.

Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images

British oil giant BP on Tuesday posted slightly weaker-than-expected first-quarter net profit, following a recent strategic reset and a slump in crude prices.

The beleaguered oil and gas major posted underlying replacement cost profit, used as a proxy for net profit, of $1.38 billion for the first three months of the year. That missed analyst expectations of $1.6 billion, according to an LSEG-compiled consensus.

BP’s net profit had hit $2.7 billion a year earlier and $1.2 billion in the final three months of 2024.

The results come as the energy major faces fresh pressure from activist investors less than two months after announcing a strategic reset.

Seeking to rebuild investor confidence, BP in February pledged to slash renewable spending and boost annual expenditure on its core business of oil and gas.

BP CEO Murray Auchincloss told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” on Tuesday that the firm was “off to a great start” in delivering on its strategic reset.

BP CEO Murray Auchincloss discusses first-quarter results

“We had a great operational quarter. We had our highest upstream operating efficiency in history. Our refineries in the first quarter ran at the best they’ve run in 24 years. We had six exploration discoveries in a row, which is really unusual and we started out three major projects,” Auchincloss said.

For the first quarter, BP announced a dividend per ordinary share of 8 cents and a share buyback of $750 million.

Net debt rose to $26.97 billion in the January-March period, up from $22.99 billion at the end of the fourth quarter. BP had previously warned of lower reported upstream production and higher net debt in the first quarter, when compared to the final three months of last year.

Shares of BP fell 3.3% on Tuesday morning. The firm is down roughly 8% year-to-date.

Activist pressure

BP’s green strategy U-turn does not appear to have gone far enough for the likes of activist investor Elliott Management, which went public last week with a stake of more than 5% in the London-listed firm.

The disclosure makes the U.S. hedge fund BP’s second-largest shareholder after BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, according to LSEG data.

Elliott was first reported to have assumed a position in the oil and gas company back in February, driving a share price rally amid expectations that its involvement could pressure BP to shift gears back toward its oil and gas businesses.

BP’s Auchincloss declined to comment on interactions with investors when asked whether the firm was under pressure from the likes of Elliott to go beyond the plans announced in its February pivot.

Notably, BP suffered a shareholder rebellion at its annual general meeting earlier this month. Almost a quarter (24.3%) of investors voted against the re-election of outgoing Chair Helge Lund, a symbolic result that reflected a sense of deep frustration among the firm’s shareholders.

Mark van Baal, founder of Dutch activist investor Follow This, told CNBC last week that he hoped the shareholder revolt means Amanda Blanc, who is leading the process to find Lund’s successor, will look for a new chair who is “climate competent” and “will not respond to short-term activists so quickly.”

Lund is expected to step down from his role next year.

Takeover candidate

BP’s underperformance relative to industry peers such as Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Shell has thrust the energy major into the spotlight as a prime takeover candidate. Energy analysts have questioned, however, whether any of the likeliest suitors will rise to the occasion.

BP’s Auchincloss on Tuesday said that he wouldn’t speculate on whether the company is a takeover target, but confirmed the oil major had not asked for any sort of protection from the British government.

“What I will say is we’re a strong, independent company and we’ve got sector-leading growth. And if we can deliver the sector-leading growth, and the first quarter is a fantastic example of that, then I have no concerns. I think we’re going to do great,” Auchincloss said.

Murray Auchincloss, chief executive officer of BP, during the “CERAWeek by S&P Global” conference in Houston, Texas, on March 11, 2025.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Oil prices have fallen in recent months on demand fears. International benchmark Brent crude futures with June delivery traded at $65.19 per barrel on Tuesday morning, down more than 1% for the session. That’s lower from around $84 per barrel a year ago.

Asked whether weaker crude prices could put the some of the firm’s reset plans in jeopardy, Auchincloss said, “Not really. We have a balance of products that we think about that generate revenue for us. So, oil, natural gas and refined products as well.”

— CNBC’s Ruxandra Iordache contributed to this report.