Kove Moto will not be the only Chinese bike manufacturer at the 2025 Dakar Rally as Hoto Motorcycle makes its debut with three bikes in the Rally2 class. Well, kind of.

In a way, Hoto could be considered a breakaway of Kove as it was formed and run by most of the same personnel and being based in Chonqing like the older company. Kove underwent a restructuring over the spring following the departure of CEO and founder Zhang Xue, who left due to disagreements with the company board to form another motorcycle brand.

Amid the shuffling, Kove’s factory rally raid program was shut down and spun off into multiple teams. Xavier Flick and Fang Xiangliang, both former Kove works riders, signed with Hoto Factory Racing for the 2025 Dakar. Sunier, who has been with Kove since its Dakar debut in 2023, leads his own Kove-backed Supesunr Team alongside Deng Liansong while the manufacturer’s Italian division is represented at Dakar by Kove Italia Lucky Explorer. Mason Klein races a Kove 450 Rally in RallyGP.

Two-time Dakar Original by Motul champion Arūnas Gelažninkas will also race for Hoto. He previously did the Taklimakan Rally in China on a Kove, and he noted most of the “core team” from that effort is now at Hoto. Negotiations to officially join the team took place at the end of the summer.

“This is a brand new bike, newly arrived in Dubai a few days ago, straight from the factory with the smell of fresh paint,” wrote Gelažninkas. “Both the factory and the bike are just 6 months old. There may be challenges, but there are always challenges in Dakar. We are in the mood for it.”

Hoto is so new, in fact, that the three Hoto 450 Rally bikes Gelažninkas and his teammates will race in January are the only pieces produced by the company thus far. Gelažninkas noted it is lighter than the KTM 450 Rally Replica that he previously rode, though there are still “many things” he would like to adjust prior to the Dakar.

“I’m helping not only myself, but the team and the other two riders,” he commented.

Featured image credit: Hoto Motorcycle