The numbers are in for BMW’s first quarter sales this year, and once again, sales are up.
Combine that with an announcement of 14 new or updated models this year, and the message from the German manufacturer is that business is booming.
BMW Motorrad delivered 35,636 motorcycles and maxi scooters to customers in Q1 of 2017, up from 33,788 units for the same period in 2016. That increase of 1,848 two-wheelers is good for a 5.5 per cent uptick.
BMW said its sales grew particularly well in European markets, as well as South America and Central America. However, there was no mention of the North American market’s numbers.
And what about those new bikes BMW announced? According to the company’s press release, it plans to unveil 14 new or updated motorcycles by the end of the year. You can probably thank emissions regulations for some of those changes or updates. We’d expect the new F900 line, including a naked bike, an adventure bike and a budget tourer. We could possibly also see a luxury tourer, or maybe even a hybrid 2WD GS? Exciting times, indeed.
Wow! I certainly hope that the reliability of BMW has improved by a whole shitload. I hear they used to be reliable (and that’s why I foolishly dropped loads of cash on a BMW), but I’ve not had that experience with mine. And be prepared to dig deep in your pockets, as BMW parts and repairs are ball-tinglingly expensive. Before you even think of a BMW, may I suggest that you looks up parts prices (and not just brake pads, but ass-clenching stuff like ABS modules, final drives, etc), ask your local BMW dealer about the hourly rate for repairs (you’ll be pleasantly surprised at how time consuming a clutch replacement is) and do a good search on BMW specific forums. They are great bikes to ride, like most modern bikes are, and they usually get great reviews form people that don’t have to own them long-term, but if you usually keep a bike for 5 – 10 years or more, be prepared to dish out large when things go wrong, and they will. If you are buying a bike with reliability in mind, you should do some serious homework. I know some will be offended by the truth and yes, most bikes will eventually have a few problems – what I’m talking about here is frequency and cost. I won’t take my “adventure” bike more than a few hundred kms from home because the pig just can’t be trusted. It sure makes any outing quite an adventure, though.
Where can we find those numbers?
Recently I tried to find sales numbers for the Yamaha FZ10/MT10 (I admit hoping they were bad so Yamaha would correct it to make it less ugly…) but couldn’t
Glad to see sales are up in general though.