If you are looking to buy a new BMW motorcycle in the near future, you might encounter a complication. As of time of writing (September 22, 2023), BMW Motorrad has a “stop sale” order in place on new motorcycles, as well as some used bikes at dealers.
Chatter about this situation came out on social media earlier this week, with dealership insiders saying it was the case. Customers who were thwarted in their plans to purchase a bike confirmed the situation. Further social media posts from other dealers backed up the claims, saying the issue was not related to safety concerns:
Then, on Wednesday, September 20, Wes Fleming ran an article in the BMW Owners News with these paragraphs that he said were a statement from BMW Motorrad:
“BMW of North America is dedicated to providing vehicles to our customers that meet their expectations. To ensure that our vehicles are of the highest industry standards, BMW performs ongoing testing and evaluation.
Following a recent quality analysis, BMW is pursuing measures to further evaluate the material used in a component of its motorcycle evaporative system, which may not have been produced to material specifications.
As a result, BMW of North America is issuing a temporary, voluntary stop sale for all new and pre-owned BMW motorcycle models in dealer inventory, except for the CE 04.
This temporary stop sale is not safety related and BMW owners may continue to ride their motorcycles as normal.”
So, to summarize: Currently, BMW’s internal combustion-powered motorcycles are not for sale in North America due to some concerns over the evap systems. The stop-sale order was not issued by regulators, but by BMW itself. BMW says it’s temporary, and affects all pre-owned bikes in dealer inventory.
Does that mean you can’t buy a vintage machine like a Funduro or K75 from a dealer? When does BMW expect this to wrap up? How will it affect the launch of the R1300 GS next week, or the F900 or F800 GS models announced earlier this month? Given the broad differences between a machine like an S1000 RR and a G310 R, how can it possibly make sense to have an emissions-related stop-sale order that applies to both?
More details are coming, we’re sure. In the meantime, if you want a new BMW asap, better start looking for an all-electric CE04.
Stop sale order was lifter last night
I was supposed to have taken delivery of a new R1250GSA last week and have been in daily contact with the dealer. Dealers have been left in the dark by BMW Motorrad for a week now – and this is as egregious as the Stop Sales order itself. Someone in senior leadership at BMW Mottorrad NA really should be terminated over this debacle. The whole issue has been managed terribly – with no consideration of customers or the dealer network.
Probably not helpful to speculate, but I’m guessing this is an emissions issue.