At the August 2017 Quail Motorcycle Gathering, Confederate's President Matt Chambers said the Confederate name would be changed to Curtiss, and the company would switch to electric motorcycles in partnership with established electric bike maker Zero Motorcycles. The new model is to be a high-powered cruiser called the Hercules, made in Zero's California facility, not the Birmingham, Alabama Confederate Motorcycle factory. Chambers said that the Civil War connotations of the Confederate name had cost the company business, and they "missed out on branding opportunities" because of it. The Curtiss Motorcycles name is a reference to aviation and motorcycle pioneer Glenn Curtiss. Chambers had defended the Confederate name and motto, "Art of Rebellion", as recently as June 2017, saying "the rebellion we're talking about is cerebral and spiritual and inside of you", connected with the ideas of Albert Camus or E. E. Cummings, and Southern principles Chambers is proud of, not their "unprincipled application", adding that he is "glad the South lost" the Civil War.