BMW Head: no demand for electric motorcycles
BMW’s CEO has stated in an interview that there is no demand for electric motorcycles or motocross bikes.
BMW isn’t particularly interested in making electric motorcycles or dirtbikes, but it may have plans for a sub-1000cc sportbike in the works.
These are among the revelations coming from a wide-ranging interview that BMW Motorrad CEO Markus Flasch had with US website Common Tread.
Born in Austria (you missed your chance, KTM), Flasch graduated from university in Arnold Schwarzenegger’s hometown of Graz and fast began moving his way up the ranks of the automotive world before eventually shifting his attention to BMW’s motorcycle division in 2023.
The 44-year-old sat down with Zack Courts at BMW’s recent DoubleRFest track day event in Austin, Texas. In such a setting, Courts couldn’t help but ask about BMW’s plans in the sportbike arena. The brand offers some of the most powerful production motorcycles currently available but doesn’t - at the moment - offer anything outside of the 1000cc segment.
Flasch was relatively tight-lipped about future products, but did offer this insight: “You can look forward to seeing something smaller than the 1000 cc [S 1000 RR]. But it’s a bit too early to talk about it.”
Meanwhile, in answering a different question, he told Courts that BMW has no plans to offer an inline four engine for anything other than the 1000cc segment. Put those two answers together and you get an even clearer sense of what the German brand is working on.
We’d assume a sportbike driven by the same 895cc parallel twin engine that powers the enjoyable F 900 XR adventure sport tourer. Or, you know, it could just be a G 310 RR.
Turning to other segments, Flasch observes that BMW’s offerings cover a lot of ground and he doesn’t see much reason to keep expanding into new areas. So, while Triumph and Ducati are dipping toes into the motocross/enduro worlds, BMW has no plans to follow.
That’s perhaps surprising for the company behind the notoriously gruelling GS Trophy competition, but Flasch says consumer demand is behind the action. BMW riders may love the sometimes-offroad nature of the GS series but they don’t want a fully focused dirt machine.
“We are making this decision talking to our customers and talking to our dealer base and we ended up, for the moment, not going this route,” he told Courts.
Another type of bike you won’t see coming from BMW is an electric one. Not a full-on motorcycle, at least. Flasch says customer response is behind that call, as well. Despite the fact BMW Motorrad has access to all the tech and knowledge behind the BMW’s relatively popular electric cars, “for the moment, we don’t see the real demand for an electric motorcycle.”
That’s not to say BMW won’t be delivering more electric scooters and ‘single track mobility’ vehicles. Those are performing well, Flasch says, and have placed BMW at the top of the market when it comes to scooters of 11 kW and above.
Lastly, it appears that Flasch sees the same opportunities that Benda is chasing in its development of a 1700cc inline six. He says that BMW’s K 1600 bikes (eg, K 1600 GT, K 1600 GTL, K 1600 B) have “a very stable and strong fan base that’s convinced us to put more focus” into the platform.
“The inline six… will have a bright future if you ask me,” he told Courts.
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Chris Cope is a fourth-generation journalist, originally from Texas. He has lived in the UK for roughly two decades and has been writing about motorcycles for most of that time. He has written for dozens of publications and websites in the UK, US, Canada, and Australia.
