Everyone knows BMW for their cars and those cars are more popular than ever, thanks to growing sales in countries like India and China BMW sold over two million cars globally for the first time ever in 2016. Yet, a cursory look at the history of the Munich-based automaker shows that cars came much later in their history, in fact their first products were aircraft engines for the luftwaffe in World War 1 and following the Versailles treaty that ended the War that prevented the Germans from maintaining an air force, the company started producing motorcycles in order to survive.
The first mass-produced BMW motorcycle, the R32, rolled off the production lines in 1923, five years before a car ever wore a BMW badge, which incidentally was a license-built version of a British Austin 7 - the fact that BMW currently owns and operates the old Austin factory outside Oxford therefore has an extra tinge of irony.
As BMW became the leading German manufacturer of motorcycles they pioneered several technologies on their motorcycles, some unique to them. The first was the use of a shaft-drive instead of a chain as it was felt that the chains of the time in the 1920’s and 1930’s were not durable enough for motorcycles. In the quest for more power from engines, the company began to equip its motorcycles with horizontally-opposed twin cylinder engines, the so-called ‘Boxer’ engines (they are called such because of the way the pistons move into the crankshaft like two boxers in a ring).
Over the past few decades, particularly as Germany rebuilt after the war and became a manufacturing powerhouse BMW became first and foremost a car company. But motorcycle manufacturing continued buoyed by sales from enthusiasts and the West German police, who swear by BMW motorcycles. The division, now called ‘BMW Motorrad’ shifted manufacturing operations to divided Berlin in a show of solidarity with the citizens of that city surrounded as they were by the might of the Cold War Soviet Army. Manufacturing their motorcycles at the old Prussian armoury buildings, Motorrad became an important player in the the premium motorcycle segment, particularly as they moved from solely road-going motorcycles to the ‘adventure’ segment with their GS series in 1980.
Even though the premium motorcycle (above 500cc engines) market took a severe hit after the global financial meltdown in 2008 dropping from close to two million globally to just over 800,000 in the space of two years decimating several Italian motorcycle manufacturers, BMW saw their sales remain relatively stable and their marketshare close to double as a result. The company sold 145,032 units of motorcycles in 2016 and Timo Resch, Head of Sales and Marketing, BMW Motorrad is targeting 200,000 units by 2020.
As Dimitris Raptis, Head of BMW Motorrad Sales, Asia explains, India will play a key role in the sales growth, although the market for ‘premium’ motorcycles in India is less than 10,000 units in a year. The market is highly competitive with iconic American brand Harley-Davidson and British brand Triumph which are already with a very strong presence in the market.
BMW Motorrad started a national sales company in India only last year and currently has just three outlets in Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore, but Raptis says that outlets in Delhi and Kochi are on the verge of opening. Resch added that the company will be making a strong presence at the upcoming India Bike Week that takes place in Goa.
“We will be bringing all our regional managers and let them get an idea of the Indian market, I would want them to see just how big the potential in India is. We know that several of younger buyers who own commuter bikes or even 150-200cc bikes would want to upgrade to something bigger one day. We see this happening with KTM, Bajaj and Royal Enfield already and we want a slice of that market also.”
However, this is where India’s third-largest two-wheeler manufacturer TVS Motors and their Hosur factory comes into the picture. BMW Motorrad has spent a large part of the last decade developing an all-new motorcycle, the G310 series. This single-cylinder 310cc motorcycle is a whole direction for the German manufacturer and the motorcycle will be made exclusively at Hosur for global export. Edgar Heinrich, the chief of BMW Motorrad Design, and someone who lived and worked in India with Bajaj explained that designing this motorcycle was a challenge. “You cannot make a buyer feel that he is buying a cut-price BMW motorcycle. This has to appeal to him and I believe that we have done that, both with the G310GS adventure motorcycle and the G310R road motorcycle.”
There is little doubt that the 310-series is a smart-looking motorcycle and the global manufacturing of the product from Hosur is definitely a successful ‘Make In India’ story. However, BMW executives all admit that they are all still waiting to see how the motorcycle will do in India.
Despite shipments of the G310 now travelling from Hosur across the world, BMW Motorrad will not be selling the motorcycles in India until next year. Resch wants the company to establish a better network of dealerships in their second phase with planned dealer openings in Chennai, Kolkata, Chandigarh and Ahmedabad by the middle of 2018 when the G310 will formally hit Indian roads. India may be the biggest volume market for motorcycles, but BMW barely registers currently. However, the company is convinced that the path to global success involves driving through India both for sales and for manufacturing.