Cycle News

INTERVIEW BMW MOTORRAD CEO STEPHAN SCHALLER P56 basis—so it's their passion as well as their job. This means they know what they are talking about when it comes to developing products and mar- keting them, because it's also their hobby just as it has been mine for the past 40 years. I see that that highly motivated team's personal involvement and hands-on knowledge about motorcycling as responsible for a big part of BMW's current suc- cess on two wheels. We have an expert develop- ment team able to create a wide range of different products that are appealing to different sectors and segments of the market. But I can tell you that at least since I've been here there's been no bike released to customers before the top management team—myself and my guys directly running the company—have intensively ridden that bike. So we know exactly how it feels to our cus- tomers. Of course, our development engineers are better at riding than we are, but we are aver- age riders who are probably closer to the customer than the highly expert guys whose skills are needed to test the bikes. So we know very, very well in advance how they behave, and what we are giving to the customer. Is another key ingredient in BMW's record growth that you have successfully expanded your global reach into new markets? Yes, indeed. So for example last year we sold close to 8,000 bikes in Brazil, and this year it will be more than 10,000. Germany was again our number one market, with 21,714 units sold there, but Brazil is after the USA [15,301 units], France and Italy the fourth biggest export market for us. We have manufactured a couple of parts locally, but the main focus there [Brazil] is on CKD [com- plete knocked down motorcycles made in Germa- ny for local assembly], and the factory there will grow bigger as we continue to expand there. Brazil came first, but one year ago we also started assembling bikes in Thailand. We already had car production there, but since January 2014 we have also started assembling BMW motor- bikes, firstly the F800 models. But this is only the starting point, and we have plans to produce sev- eral other different models there for sale in the Southeast Asia region, with the advantages in duties we get from manufactur- ing in Thailand. Across the water from Thailand, India has significant export potential for Western manufacturers. BMW has forged an alliance with TVS Motor Company there. When we can expect to see some products emanating from that alliance? And what kind of bikes will they be? Yes, we searched for a long time to find the right partner in cost-effective manufacturing countries, not only India, and as a result of this search we found TVS. We announced in April 2013 that we will jointly produce several different designs of bikes on the same platform. So we will use local sourc- ing for components, but the engineering is 100 percent done by BMW. This is a real win-win situation where we have the engineering know-how that the Indian compa- ny learns from, and they have the cost base that BMW Motorrad can benefit from globally. Looking at this company, I am 100 percent convinced that TVS is able to do first-class quality. So it's a 100 percent suitable base for us to get really competi- tive bikes out of, in terms of quality matched to price. You mentioned a common base… will TVS produce its own range of models using the "THIS IS A REAL WIN-WIN SITUATION WHERE WE HAVE THE ENGINEERING KNOW- HOW THAT THE INDIAN COMPANY LEARNS FROM, AND THEY HAVE THE COST BASE THAT BMW MOTORRAD CAN BENEFIT FROM GLOBALLY."

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