Thekla Brackemann’s LinkedIn page describes her as an “engineer with endurance”. In the audacious world of automotive engineering, that’s a bold claim – but it’s one the confident young German measures up to in all aspects of her professional and personal life.
In the 12 months prior to joining Savic Motorcycles, 26-year-old Thekla had: completed a Masters of Engineering Management; helped a Melbourne-based company develop a real-time wheel alignment system; completed an internship at the Spanish car brand Cupra; and completed a triathlon and a half-Ironman competition.
Oh, and she also rode a BMW F700GS 1,150km from Cap Ferret on the French coast to her parents’ home at Lake Constance on the Swiss-German border – in one day.
“It took just under 12 hours,” says Thekla. “And that included washing the bike before I returned it to my mother, who it belongs to.”
To say that Savic Motorcycles is pleased to have secured Thekla’s services as the latest member of our growing assembly team is an understatement.
While she’s relatively new to the world of electric motorbikes, Thekla is a gun in a mechanical workshop, having served in both the vehicle assembly and procurement divisions at Volkswagen’s global headquarters in Wolfsburg – one of the largest manufacturing plants in the world.
As well as several VW models – including early prototypes of the ID electric cars – Thekla knows her way around large motorcycles, having ridden a BMW G650GS every day for five years before she moved to Australia in early 2022.
Like several other members of our team, Thekla first connected with Dennis on LinkedIn, before meeting him at the Smart Energy Expo in Sydney in May 2023. “I met with Dennis, Ali and Sam, and I made a great connection with all of them straight away,” she says. “Plus of course, I totally fell in love with the C-Series!”
Although Thekla is yet to ride one of our bikes, she’ll be hopping on one soon as a test rider for our final PAVE durability tests.
So how does she feel about the prospect of riding a C-Series?
As with everything she does, there’s no holding Thekla back: “I would measure my current excitement to ride the C-Series at about level one thousand!”