Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/495160
BMW MOTORRAD CEO STEPHAN SC HALLER P102 I N T E R V I E W something that is going to be more expensive, and also heavy. One family of BMW models that hasn't re- ally developed since its launch in 2011 is the six-cylinder K1600 range. What plans do you have for this in the future? I'm happy with the sales of this model segment. It's a very nice long distance bike that is gain- ing lots of fans in the USA and all over Europe, and we are definitely heavily working on further developing the range of models powered by that wonderful engine within the two to three years. Will you make a customer version of the Concept 6 showbike that kicked off the six- cylinder family in 2009? It would appeal par- ticularly to the American customer because it is a Custom Cruiser with sporty appeal. Is BMW developing an American style six-cylin- der Custom bike with it? [Laughs] No, you are reaching my border of communication. I can tell you we are definitely working on entering strongly into a big section of the market in the U.S. with the right answer. Sadly the Concept 6 does not work as a production model, even though it looks so very good. Would this U.S. market model come with a six-cylinder engine? Could be! We have different options, but the six-cylinder of course could fit very well with what a U.S. customer wants. That then pre-suppos- es that BMW might be interested in the Cruiser market. You haven't had a Cruiser model since the R1200C, and that's a huge market globally. Are you going to do any- thing about it—perhaps by developing a V-twin? No, you're right, we don't have a Cruiser. But we must indeed find the right answer to enter the biggest motorcycle segment of our largest export market, which is the USA. However, we are defi- nitely not going to do so by copying another brand, because this was never successful in the past. We must follow our own rules. Yes, but BMW reinvented the four-cylinder hypersports model by taking a Japanese- style inline four and doing it differently. Why wouldn't you do the same thing with a V-twin for the cruiser market, but do it differently than Harley-Davidson? If we did a V-Twin we definitely would do it dif- ferently, but we also have our BMW heritage and perhaps that is a more important consideration. So no V-Twin BMW? I did not say no six-cylinder cruiser, so I do not say no V-Twin. I don't want to go into more detail right now, but this model segment is indeed very interesting for us, and up to now we are not really there. So this is an open target for us. As you know, we want to grow further in the next few years, and we have two main options to do so. One is to find new markets where we are not really present in yet—China, Latin America, Southeast Asia and India—and the other one is new model segments. One key segment is below 500cc, which we are working on, and the other segment is obviously the biggest one we are presently absent from—Cruisers. How about Motocross or Enduro models? Does BMW have any plans to return to the Sands will work with BMW on the design of other models besides the R NineT.