BMW Motorrad has been celebrating its centenary as a motorcycle manufacturer in 2023, while also for the first time in the company’s history breaking through the 200,000 barrier in terms of annual production entering its anniversary year. Last calendar year, 202,895 motorcycles and scooters were sold, which was an increase of 4.4 percent compared to 2021.
So last year was the best yet commercially in the 100-year history of the company, which continues to be the largest European manufacturer of premium motorcycles and scooters. These are predominantly built in its main Spandau factory in Berlin, as well as in the BMW plants assembling CKD kits made there to supply local markets in Brazil and Thailand, and by its partners TVS in India, and Loncin in China.
The man who has spearheaded this healthy growth is Markus Schramm, 60, an experienced motorcyclist who took over as Head of BMW Motorrad in May 2018 and, after five-and-a-half years at the helm, has just retired. He’d been with its parent company BMW AG since 1991, and was already a member of both the company’s main board of directors and its supervisory board. Before assuming the CEO role Schramm had been responsible for Corporate and Product Strategy Planning for the entire BMW Group, at a time when the company’s overall commitment to EV/electric products was intensifying.
Congratulations on a record year in 2022, in which you broke through the 200,000 unit barrier. You’re on track to do even better in 2023, so does that mean that the negative effects of Covid
