He’s designed components for cars and SUVs, trains, commercial aircraft, and even executive jets – but for Marcos Cruz, nothing beats the thrill of working on the Savic C-Series prototype.

“This is the first time I’ve ever worked properly on a motorbike,” says the 42-year-old Brazilian. “It’s a new beginning for me – a new world – and it’s just fantastic!”

Marcos, who first came to Melbourne in 2008, works as a product designer at Ford, a company he’s also worked for in Brazil, the UK and Germany. At Savic, he’s our 3D surface modeller, the eagle eyes in charge of the fine lines and immaculate finishing of the Alpha prototype. “Having him on our team has taken our design capability to a whole new level,” says Dennis.

Marcos was born in Sao Paolo and, like Dennis, was drawn to engineering at high school. While studying Mechanical Engineering, he joined the Brazilian aerospace company Embraer in 2003, working as a junior engineer on civil and military aircraft. In 2009 he joined Ford Brazil as a project engineer, including stints developing car bodies and interiors in London, Melbourne and Berlin. In 2014 he moved to the Canadian train manufacturer, Bombardier, which sent him to work on trains in Brisbane – where Ford tracked him down and lured him back to Melbourne.

“We’ve done a lot of travelling, but I think now we’re here to stay,” says Marcos, whose wife Ligia loves Melbourne – as does his 11-year-old son, Noah, who’s a rising star at the Altona Magic Soccer Club.

“I’ve always followed new cars and motorbikes, and I came across the Savic story online,” recalls Marcos. “Right away, I fell in love with the prototype. It looked so clean and honest, not forced in any way.

“There are always hundreds of new bikes on the market, but most of them look pretty boring. Electric motorbikes were going the same way, but when I saw Dennis and Dave’s design, it looked different – really honest and beautiful – not following the designs of other motorbikes. So I approached Dennis and, of course, we got on really well and he invited me to come and help with his bike.”

That was last September, since when Marcos has dedicated a considerable number of evenings and weekends to the C-Series design. In fact, with the COVID slowdown, he arrived at just the right time to help finalise our design: finessing the surfaces and connections of the bike, and removing tiny imperfections to ensure flawless, fluid lines.

“Because Savic is a small company creating handcrafted bikes, it’s much more alive in terms of creativity and freedom to work,” says Marcos. “This is the kind of work I really find so rewarding.”