FAMEL Returns: Old School Steel, New School Power
- Buck City Biker
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Portugal’s most famous motorcycle name is back — and it’s gone electric.
After years off the radar, FAMEL is back in the game with a full-electric play. For a lot of riders outside Iberia, the name might not ring bells. In Portugal? Different story. FAMEL is baked into the country’s two-wheel DNA. Now they’re betting that heritage still counts — even when the engine noise doesn’t.
Portugal’s Forgotten Icon
Founded in the late 1940s in Águeda, FAMEL became one of Portugal’s most recognisable motorcycle manufacturers through the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s. Their small-displacement bikes were affordable, tough, and everywhere. Think working-class mobility with a bit of café edge.
Fast forward a coupe of decades, and the brand has been revived — repositioned as a modern EV company leaning heavily into its retro identity.
FAMEL’s First Electric
FAMEL’s headline electric platform is the E-XF — a retro-styled electric motorcycle that looks like it rolled straight out of 1978.
Design-wise, it’s classic lines all day: round headlight, flat bench seat, wire-spoke aesthetic, twin-shock stance.
Current published figures suggest:
Mid-mounted electric motor
Around 5.5 kW nominal output
Double removable lithium battery
Claimed urban range in the up to 120 km (74.5 miles)
Top speed hovering around 100 km/h (62mph)
That puts the E-XF in 125cc-equivalent territory — a retro-styled urban tool for commuters and newer riders who don’t want a scooter, and a smart play in emissions-tight Europe.
Availability – Where, When, How Much?
Right now, FAMEL sits in that crucial in-between phase: beyond renders and prototypes, but not yet at full-scale volume. They’ve unveiled a production-intent E-XF (shown publicly at EICMA 2025), secured roughly €2.5 million in backing through Portuguese investment channels, and opened a development and prototyping facility. The first 100 customer bikes are targeted for early 2026 delivery, with Portugal leading the rollout before wider European expansion.
Pricing is expected to land in the €5,000–€6,000 range depending on configuration and incentives — competitive for a European-built urban 125cc-equivalent. The growth test will depend how smoothly those first bikes roll out.
The BCB Take
Here’s the thing. Retro-styled electric bikes are everywhere right now. Lots of them feel like fashion accessories with a hub motor.
FAMEL at least has a story. In a European market where heritage still moves metal — and where cities are pushing hard toward zero-emissions mobility — this could land well. Especially in Portugal, where brand loyalty runs deep.
But nostalgia doesn’t sell bikes for long. In the A1 bracket it’s build quality, dealer muscle, and performance per euro that decide who survives. If FAMEL gets that right, they’ll have a lane in southern Europe. And another heritage brand betting on electrons instead of extinction? We’ll take it.
Ride safe, folks.
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