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Matt Chambers

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The Confederate X132 Hellcat Speedster is the newest motorcycle from the venerable “Southern” brand, and that’s enough of a pedigree for the machine to grace the pages of Asphalt & Rubber, but this latest incarnation of the Hellcat line also happens to be the first work by a certain Pierre Terblanche, who became Head of Design at Confederate not too long ago.

Based around the same 132 cubic inch (2,163cc) v-twin engine as the previous Hellcat models, the Speedster is good for 121hp and 140 lbs•ft of torque. The styling is true to the Confederate canon, though Terblanche’s touches can certainly be seen in the details of the machine.

When we last caught up with Pierre Terblanche, the he had left a frustrating position with the Piaggio Group, that saw the South-African creating several intriguing concepts for the Moto Guzzi brand that never saw the light of day, and he was thus headed to work for Norton.

With work there being a non-starter, rumors pegged Terblanche coming stateside to work for Confederate Motorcycless, but with those rumors over a year old now, we assumed the thought to collaborate with the Southern marques had passed. However, our inbox today tells us that seems not to be the case, as Confederate Motorcycles has announced that Pierre Terblanche is the company’s new head of product development.

It has been almost a year and a half since we first heard of the third generation Confederate X132 Hellcat, and today we get word that the “more affordable” Confederate has been finalized and is ready for pre-production orders. Borrowing on the namesake of its predecessors, the new Hellcat shares some of the basic characteristics of the original Hellcats, while still bringing a very unique look and style to the custom cruiser.

Set to begin production in January, Confederate is taking orders now with a price tag of $45,000 through February, though that price will go to $49,500 in March of 2012. With only 164 Confederate X132 Hellcats to be made, the Alabama-based company expects to make only two units a week.