Here's some more info about BMW's 2006 sales:
2006 BMW Motorcycle Sales
January 13, 2007 - BMW reports that worldwide BMW motorcycle sales for December were up 36.8 percent over the same period the previous year, while annual sales topped 100,000 units. BMW Motorrad USA, also posted increases for December as well as annual sales.
The strong performance was claimed to be due to the introduction of new models as well as the continued performance of existing models. At the head of the list was the top-selling model – the R 1200 RT – which was named “Best Touring Bike” in 2006 for the second year in a row by editors of Motorcyclist Magazine.
BMW’s R 1200 GS model – named “Best Adventure Bike” last year by Motorcyclist – accounted for the marque’s second highest volume. The F 650 GS was BMW’s third best-selling bike.
BMW Motorrad USA will introduce several new motorcycles for 2007 – the G 650 series, the F 800 series, and the K 1200 R Sport models – all of which are expected to contribute to another strong year.
100,000 motorcycles were produced and sold for the first time, which now means that over 2 million motorcycles have been sold in the company's entire history. Exactly 100,064 BMW motorcycles were sold worldwide - the highest number ever supplied by the company to customers in a single year. Compared to the previous year (97,474 units) this means a sales increase of 2.7 per cent.
And the company can boast yet another proud statistic for 2006: in December the number of all BMW motorcycles produced since 1923 reached the two million mark. By the end of the year a total of 2,061,977 motorcycles had been produced, 1,616,016 having come off the production lines of the motorcycle plant in Berlin-Spandau since 1969.
In keeping with the company’s roots, the 100,000th motorcycle was a flat twin “Boxer”, an unfaired R 1200 R in Night Black non-metallic fitted with Integral ABS.
The foundation for increased production was laid by investments made in past years. Some 117 million euros was spent on developing motorcycle production in the Berlin plant between 2001 and 2003. Today it is regarded as one of the most state-of-the-art motorcycle plants in the world.
The markets in Western Europe accounted for the lion’s share of the impressive sales results. In Germany, a total of 23,617 units had been supplied as of December, making BMW Motorrad the market leader in its home territory.
The second strongest market for the company was Italy with 13,651 units, followed by the US (12,825 units) and Spain (10,002 units).
The R 1200 GS – along with its sibling model Adventure - achieved phenomenal sales success with 31,138 units. Not only is it the market leader by far among the large-volume enduro motorcycles, it is probably one of the best-selling motorcycle models worldwide in the category over 500 cc.
Ranking in second place in terms of popularity of BMW motorcycles is the touring bike R1200 RT with 13,384 units. The single-cylinder model F 650 GS and the model variation Dakar was sold 12,511 times.
Within a decade, BMW Motorrad has become the biggest and most successful manufacturer of large-volume motorcycles in Europe. But for Dr. Herbert Diess, the managing director of BMW Motorrad, volume increase is not the ultimate objective: “Our company strategy is long-term and oriented towards the permanent profitability of all products; it is not simply geared towards volume. Rankings in registration statistics are not the main focus of our interest. We invest carefully in innovations and technologies for new models, consolidating and extending our segments and market positions. This secures a strong position within the market for us and our dealers.”
Looking ahead to 2007, BMW Motorrad starts out with five new models. The new single-cylinder series with the models G 650 Xchallenge, Xcountry and Xmoto, and the K 1200 R Sport will all be available from dealerships in Germany from March 10, 2007 and the HP2 Megamoto follows in late spring.
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