Last month, BMW Motorrad issued a 'Stop Sale' notice for all petrol-powered new and used bikes to its North American dealers, but as of early October 2023, this has been lifted.
"The engineering division has concluded our testing and evaluation and have determined that the voluntary stop-sale measures can be lifted,” a statement read. No technical details nor further information of any kind has been divulged, so far as we can make out. We've contacted BMW Motorrad North America to see if we can find out more.
When news of the Stop Sale notice emerged, the manufacturer sent out the following statement: “BMW of North America is dedicated to providing vehicles to our customers that meet their expectations. To ensure that our vehicles are of the highest industry standards, BMW performs ongoing testing and evaluation.
"Following a recent quality analysis, BMW is pursuing measures to further evaluate the material used in a component of its motorcycle evaporative system, which may not have been produced to material specifications.
“As a result, BMW of North America is issuing a temporary, voluntary stop-sale for all new and pre-owned BMW motorcycle models in dealer inventory, except for the CE 04.
This temporary stop sale is not safety related and BMW owners may continue to ride their motorcycles as normal.”
The news prompted one BMW Motorrad dealer in the US, Hermy’s BMW, Pennsylvania, to hint that it could be emissions-related, due to the all-electric CE 04 maxi scooter was still being allowed to leave the showroom. It is though also important to highlight the comment on it not being safety-related, meaning those who had just bought bikes could continue to use them, and we assume that servicing and sales within the BMW NA dealer network carried on as before while the notice was in place.
The timing of the Stop Sale notice fell at a bad time for BMW - just a couple of weeks away from unveiling its new flagship R 1300 GS. As it's now lifted, though, the North American launch for the bike can presumably be carried out unaffected.
