Munich - BMW Motorrad, the motorcycle division of the BMW Group, has entered the below-500cc motorcycle market as part of an aggressive strategy to increase sales by 50 percent to 200 000 units by 2020.
Its growth strategy also involves entering new high-growth markets and increasing its dealer network worldwide from 1 100 to more than 1 500 dealers by 2020.
Entry to the segment below 500cc will be the foundation for the division’s growth. The world premiere of the new BMW G 310 R took place in Munich yesterday.
Stephan Schaller, the head of BMW Motorrad, said yesterday that with the BMW G 310 R the division was bringing a premium offering to the segment below 500cc. “We will also be expanding our urban mobility offering in this class, including bikes with electric drive trains.”
But Schaller said BMW Motorrad’s core business would remain the premium segment above 500cc.
The BMW G 310 R Roadster will be launched in the South African market in the second quarter of next year, and the BMW R nine T Scrambler in the third quarter.
BMW has sold 2 783 motorcycles in the South African market in the first 10 months of this year, slightly fewer than in the corresponding period last year.
Schaller said South Africa was BMW Motorrad’s most important market in Africa and provided a good base for expansion in Africa in the future.
“We have the task of also looking at the rest of Africa. But this is difficult because the products seen there are more from India and south-east Asia than Europe and the US.
“The price range is below e1 000 (R15 327), which is not our price level,” he said.
But Schaller said countries with large populations, like Nigeria and Angola, were of interest.
BMW Motorrad did not, however, see these countries as feasible for their products in the next few years, not until the buying power of the population increased.
Schaller was guarded in his comments about the proportion of the division’s growth that would come from motorcycles below 500cc by 2020.
He said the growth strategy required them to look for new niches, segments and markets.
“The new markets are Brazil and China and, in a certain way, the new cruiser segment in the US – which we have not really been in yet,” he said.
Schaller added that Brazil was a very well-established market and was the third-biggest market in the world after the US and Europe.
He said the BMW G 310 R Roadster was being launched on the global market – but with Brazil as the main market.
“The main portion of sales in Brazil are in the 300cc to 400cc range and they had sales close to 100 000 in their best years,” he said.
Schaller said BMW Motorrad had sufficient production capacity in its four manufacturing facilities in Munich, India, Brazil and Thailand to achieve its growth targets.
He said BMW Motorrad was the market leader in 26 countries. Year-to-date sales had grown by 11.5 percent to more than 121 622 units.
The division would not, however, be able to achieve its growth targets from the established markets alone, and also if it remained focused only on the above-500cc motorcycle segment.
BUSINESS REPORT