Roughly a week after shutting off sales for its internal combustion-powered motorcycles in North America, BMW Motorrad has lifted that stop-sale order. In other words: It’s back to business as usual.
In late September, BMW dealerships in both the US and Canada cut off sales of both new-production and used motorcycles with gasoline-powered engines. The only motorcycles that BMW Motorrad could sell were the electric CE 04 and CE 02 electric models. On September 22, BMW said:
“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.”
And that was it. No real explanation of what the issue was, although plenty of insiders and people claiming to be insiders had hints of what the story was. Many thought the charcoal evap canister was the issue. One Internet rumor said the issue was simply a matter of a missing sticker that was supposed to be on that canister. Sounds silly, but this is the exact sort of thing that regulators often raise a stink over. Other rumors said the evap canister itself was the issue, and that after testing, BMW’s engineers determined it fit inside North American’s emissions regulations.
On its part, BMW hasn’t said anything publicly. But if you want, you can get down to your local dealership now, and buy a new R1300 GS or F900 GS or whatever else you jolly well please.
Thanks for the update!