Pierre Terblanche

Pierre Terblanche
Born(1956-11-06)6 November 1956
Uitenhage, South Africa
OccupationMotorcycle designer
Royal Enfield Himalayan
Cagiva 900 Gran Canyon
Ducati Multistrada 1000 S
Ducati Sport 1000
Ducati PaulSmart 1000 LE
Ducati Hypermotard
Ducati Supermono

Pierre Terblanche is a South African motorcycle designer born on 6 November 1956 in Uitenhage, Eastern Cape. He started his career in advertising but felt the need to move into the design world. After moving to Germany and working with Volkswagen design, he worked at Cagiva's research center at San Marino under the direction of Massimo Tamburini.[1] When Cagiva decided to sell Ducati to US-based Texas Pacific Group, Pierre Terblanche chose to follow Ducati. In December 2007, he left Ducati to pursue other interests, believing that he should be a designer and not a manager.

Subsequently, Pierre Terblanche worked for Piaggio on the Moto Guzzi and other brands, along with former colleague Miguel Angel Galluzzi, who designed the Ducati Monster.[2][3] Terblanche left Piaggio to join Norton Motorcycle Company in January 2011.[4]

In early 2013, it was announced that Terblanche had joined Confederate Motors in Alabama, United States, as head of product development,[5] and in August 2014 his first Confederate design, the X132 Hellcat Speedster, was shown.[6]

In late 2014, Terblanche left Confederate to join Royal Enfield in India.[7] After working for 20 months at Royal Enfield, Terblanche resigned from his post on 2 August 2016 for reasons unknown.

At the 2019 EICMA show, carbon fiber wheel manufacturer Blackstone (BST) unveiled the hyperTEK. The motorcycle is the first in-house electric motorcycle; Terblanche, who designed the motorcycle, stated that the hyperTEK is 'the best work I have ever done.'[8]

  1. ^ Pierre Terblanche Bio, Ducati.com
  2. ^ Ben Purvis (20 December 2007). "Ducati design boss Pierre Terblanche leaves". Motorcycle News. Retrieved 27 August 2008.
  3. ^ Ian Kerr (22 June 2009). "Terblanche Working with Piaggio". MotorcycleUSA. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
  4. ^ Siler, Wes (12 January 2011), "Pierre Terblanche joins Norton", Hell for Leather, retrieved 20 January 2011
  5. ^ "Pierre Terblanche joins Confederate Motor Company", Motorcyclist, 22 February 2014, retrieved 14 March 2013
  6. ^ Jensen Beeler (15 August 2014), Confederate X132 Hellcat Speedster – by Pierre Terblanche, Asphalt and Runber
  7. ^ "Design legend Pierre Terblanche joins Royal Enfield". Royal Enfield.
  8. ^ Chris Hunter (15 November 2019), Surprise: Carbon Expert BST reveals the $80,000 hyperTEK, Bike Exif