BMW Motorrad market share falling in the US. Why?

[Grumpy Goat]

I am presently in Europe (London at the moment, and recently in Athens and Istanbul) and, as a motorcyclist cannot help but look at the motos riding around. Lots of interesting bikes including a cool looking Peugeot Metropolis tiltable (3-sheet) scooter.

Anyway, point is, there are significantly more BMWs on the roads here in Europe (especially Athens) and much fewer American type bikes (cruisers) although I did see a few. The big difference is, of course, the fact that people here do not ride bikes as we do in the US ... as a weekend thing to do ... "go for a ride". At my office my boss who rides a HD asks on a Monday if I went for a ride on the weekend, and sometimes I say no, and that is because I rode all week and I wanted a shot at my wife's sweet Golf.

Catching up on my reading I came across Wes Fleming's excellent piece in the May 2018 MOA Owners' News (attached) where he suggests that we can't blame millennials (anyone born between 1981 and 1996; ages 22 to 37 in 2018) for killing motorcycling, and that it is dying on its own (and I would add "here in the US"). It sure is not dying anywhere else that I have seen and I travel a bit.

So the question must be why are motorcycle sales falling off in the US, where riding as transport is not part of the culture, and is that the primary reason why BMW Motorrad sales are falling in the US while growing elsewhere (even in India, where the small BMWs are being made).

When you look at the people attending BMW rallies, you quickly come to the conclusion that most folk have more than a few grey hairs and many buy BMW gear (which is not inexpensive) for various reasons, including for the logo! So it seems that with wisdom and affluence comes the willingness and ability to buy BMW bikes, which are some of the most technologically advanced (and safest!) bikes on the road. To a public which only sees motorcycling as a weekend activity, this may not be money well spent, especially if now starting out in one's career.

Then there is cruiser market with their typically technologically-challenged but lower-riding, seemingly safer, slower bikes. Some might be just as expensive as the BMWs (hey all that chrome and lifestyle stuff costs money) but their sales are slowing too. News lately indicate that HD may be in trouble and that they had to make some changes to their engines and lineup to try and counter the slide. Indian (owned by snowmobile maker Polaris, and the same guys who killed off Victory which I happened to like!) are about to make a radical addition to their lineup (and nothing like the meek maybe superficial changes that HD made lately) in coming up with the new FTR1200 Scout - a roadster?! Maybe the fact that the ex BMW Design Head left BMW Motorrad for Indian in March of this year had something to do with that.

But will it be enough on these two sides of the market? BMW Motorrad has a new Director of whose motorcycling vision little is reported. Maybe he will continue to try to penetrate the potentially lucrative but different-minded US market as they started with the reshaping of the K1600 in a Bagger / Grand America versions (funny how the name is so obviously targeting the customer). For increasing market share, since long-distance touring for the masses is probably a lost cause, the focus has to be on compact powerful sport bikes and roadsters, and also adventure bikes. They would be well advised to maybe offer de-contented models (instead of insisting on offering only top of the line choices) to drive the price down. The price has to come down. Just ask the Japanese manufacturers if they are worried about market share. Likely not.

Any comments?