BMW says it’s hit a massive milestone at its Berlin factory. On June 21, 2023, the German manufacturer built its millionth GS adventure bike with a boxer motor, an R1250 GS with Triple Black Style paint.
Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Ever since its 1980 launch, the GS series has been BMW’s biggest seller. At first, you could only buy GS models with a boxer engine. The original R80 G/S used an airhead design, which evolved into the R100, then the R1100 oilhead platform, then the R1150 and R1200 oilheads. And then, the series gained liquid-cooled heads for the R1200 and then the current R1250 models.
Of course, BMW also sells singles and parallel twins with the GS badge, but the classic adventure bike layout that everyone knows as “the” GS is powered by a big flat twin.
That trend will continue with the R1300 GS, a bike that BMW Motorrad’s leader, Dr. Markus Schramm, confirmed at the announcement of the millionth machine’s production:
“The BMW GS became a legend and at the same time an indispensable cornerstone in the BMW Motorrad model range. Its outstanding talents, such as dynamic riding performance, brawny off-road qualities, superior long-distance comfort and enormous robustness, have since been continuously developed by BMW Motorrad and transferred to other BMW Motorrad model series with great success,” Schramm said. “I am therefore very pleased that today, and especially in our ‘100 Years of BMW Motorrad’ anniversary year, we are able to contribute a major milestone to the corporate history of the BMW Group with the one millionth BMW GS motorbike with a boxer engine. I am equally pleased that the unique history of BMW Motorrad models with boxer engines will soon be supplemented by an exciting chapter with numerous innovations with the new R 1300 GS.”
Big news indeed! BMW says it will launch the new R1300 GS in a ceremony in Berlin on September 28, with a special preview for some insiders, and then a global launch on the Internet shortly thereafter.
