BMW has reported put the kibosh on any rumors that the Bavarian brand is working on a 600cc-ish sportbike to compliment its now wildly popular 2010 BMW S1000RR superbike. MCN is reporting that BMW has acquired the domain name of s600rr.de merely as a defensive IP strategy, and currently has no plans to pursue a follow-up to the S1000RR.
BMW is reported as saying that “developing a 600 supersport bike is more or less as expensive as a 1000cc superbike; the production costs aren’t very much lower but the retail price would be.” BMW goes on to cite that because of the lower margins in the middleweight market, the development costs would out-shadow sales returns, making the venture less appealing from an ROI perspective.
While the points are all well and true by BMW, there still remains strong arguments for why the Bavarians should still pursue a middleweight sportbike. For starters 600’s serve as an entry point for liter-bike sales, and help bring in customers that otherwise would not have bought a motorcycle from the German manufacturer.
Clearly from its statement, BMW is choosing to ignore this theory of product segmentation, which leaves the company the option of taking a different approach to middleweight motorcycles. When rumors initially hit about the S600RR, there was speculation about a possible three cylinder, 675cc configuration. With exotic designs like the concept above, BMW could possibly ask for a premium on a machine that separates itself from the Japanese 600’s…of course this ethos would be counter to their current game plan with the S1000RR. Decisions, decisions, decisions.
Source: MCN; Photo: Bako
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