BMW ‘Crotch Rocket’ to Compete Against Superbikes From Japan

Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) -- Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, a maker of motorcycles since the 1920s, plans to begin selling a high- performance bike in January to compete with dominant models from Honda Motor Co. and Suzuki Motor Corp.
The S 1000 RR is Munich-based BMW’s first motorcycle in the “superbike” category that’s characterized by hunched-forward seating, light weight and high horsepower engines. BMW plans to price the bike within $1,000 of top competitors’ offerings and predicts it will increase U.S. motorcycle sales by 20 percent.

“We are going to take the Japanese head-on,” said Pieter de Waal, vice president of the company’s U.S. motorcycle operations, at an event last week in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.

The motorcycle’s introduction puts BMW into a niche -- informally known as “crotch rockets” -- dominated by Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha Motor Co. and the Kawasaki brand owned by Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. The four Japan-based companies have 88 percent of U.S. market share in the superbike category, De Waal said. BMW’s offering will be priced at $13,800, close to the four most popular competing motorcycles.

“For BMW, which has always had a reputation of being a very high-priced motorcycle, it’s certainly a lot closer to the Japanese bikes in price,” said David Edwards, Cycle World magazine’s editor in chief. “That may be for some people a reason to consider it, especially if its performance lives up to expectations. But I don’t think you are going to see a mass exodus of Japanese sportbike riders going to BMW.”

Japanese superbikes, which include the Honda Fireblade, Yamaha R1, Suzuki GSX-R and Kawasaki ZX10, have a longer history in the segment and that will be hard for buyers to overcome, said Edwards, whose magazine is based in Newport Beach, California.

Bikes Before Autos

BMW debuted its first motorcycle in 1923 in Berlin, about six years before the company’s first automobile. That motorcycle, the R 32, featured a shaft to drive the rear wheel instead of a chain, a principle that most BMW bikes still employ. The S 1000 RR has a chain, which is now the industry standard.

The S 1000 RR motorcycle produces 193 horsepower -- more than most passenger cars -- and can reach 186 miles per hour, De Waal said. It can accelerate from zero to 62.2 mph (100 kilometers per hour) in 2.9 seconds.

“I’m getting calls every day about it,” said Dale Black, sales manager at BMW Motorcycles of Detroit in Sterling Heights, Michigan. “Of course you’ve got the young crotch rocket crowd interested in it, but I’m also getting guys in their 50s getting in on this.”

Older Riders

De Waal said the company is trying to lower the age of its motorcycle buyers. The average age of 1,000-cubic centimeters superbike riders is 34 in the U.S. BMW’s other motorcycle owners are “old and getting older,” he said, without giving an average age. The S 1000 RR is a 1,000 cc category bike and technically features 999 cc.

The U.S. market for motorcycles with engines over 500 cc was 591,000 vehicles last year and is estimated to be 350,000 this year, BMW said at the presentation. The superbike category makes up about 18 percent of the total market, BMW said.

BMW sold about 12,000 motorcycles in the U.S. last year and has about 2 percent of the market, and none in the superbike category, De Waal said. The division is profitable and sales are down about 7 percent this year through June, BMW said.

“We obviously would like to increase our presence beyond a niche player in the U.S.,” De Waal said.