India has become a special market for BMW Motorrad ever since they announced their association with TVS and showed us their G310R which is now excruciatingly close to production. While we are still not done dancing and celebrating about getting a BMW at a ridiculously low entry point, Stephan Schaller, President of BMW Motorrad seems to have dropped another bombshell of a hint. In an interview he gave to MCN, he seemed to have vaguely suggested that the company is open to enter segments below 300cc, trough it wouldn’t go lower than 125cc.
Now, in all fairness, and trying to be as objective as possible, his statement was somewhat cryptic and can be interpreted in a couple of different ways. It may even mean that the company doesn’t wish to step down a notch from the 300cc segment at all. However, the very mention of a cubic capacity slab, which shouldn’t have been made had their not been any plans, leaves plenty of space for speculation.
Mr Schaller was asked “Will BMW fully immerse itself in the small-capacity sector?”.
To the question, he replied by saying “It is not a strategy to have lots of volume in the small capacity segment, the task of the G310 is to lower the hurdle for new customers. We want to attract new customers but we will not go to 125cc or lower. The G310 is 100% a BMW that attracts new customers who may step up to our big bikes as our main focus will remain the big bikes above 500cc.”
Now ‘125cc OR lower’ can be deciphered in many ways. Is it OK to go down to 200cc, but not all the way to 125cc? As we mentioned before, the statement is open to speculation. And having been in the industry, and knowing how clinical German top brass is about their statements, we think we have a valid reason to think that there’s a probability of BMW Motorrad using the 310R platform for lower capacity bikes. After all, offshoots of products such as the KTM Duke 125 and the Yamaha R15 have created great success stories in both developed and developing countries – especially India. Just that BMW is going top-down (higher to lower capacity) while the other two went bottom-up (lower to higher capacity). We’re sure there’s a whole army of upwardly mobile bikers who’d love to put their money on a BMW Branded 125, 150 or 200, even at a premium – which makes a lot of sense, both for BMW and for the market.
The BMW G310R in the meantime, is the smallest capacity motorcycle offering by the German brand. The motorcycle gets a 313cc liquid-cooled single-cylinder engine with 34 hp of power at 9,500 rpm and 28Nm of torque at 7,500 rpm.
Would a BMW branded 125-200cc motorcycle make sense for this market? Do let us know your thoughts. Hit the comments section below and share your opinion.
Source: MCN
India already has over crowding of 150cc – 200cc – 250cc bikes.. India do not have enough 300cc bikes .. 400CC – 500CC bikes are totally absent in India.. 400CC – 500CC quality sport tourer bikes should be introduced by international brands as Indian bike brands are yet to graduate to produce good design and quality bikes !!