BMW were winding down production of the twins and had declared their intention to withdraw them . OK technically they hadn't ceased production, but they hastily reversed the product retirement programme. For all intents and purposes it was a reintroduction.
The reason for this was the dire K series bikes. They were very poor in all respects compared to the Japanese bikes of the era. The revamped 1100 and 1200's were just throwing petrol on the fire.
Biking is about fun and the K's were vanilla products - dull as ditchwater and basically two wheeled cars. This is why they aren't a proper K compared to the current K series.
The boxers were much more fun and kept BMW Motorrad going until the R1100RS and then the lovely R1100GS totally transformed their fortunes.
When the K1200S arrived it was class leading. Not quite as mindblowingly fast as a Busa or a ZZR1400, but geared for the real world, comfier, innovative and full of character. A modern Blackbird