Cole
Registered user
I have raised this exact point a number of times in the past. You are paying for a "Bayerische Motoren Werke" yet we get a Berlin product. Yes the quality of workmanship in Berlin is much worse.. the entire work ethic of Berlin is very poor compared to Bavaria. Its a different world. GDP / capita in Berlin is HALF what it is in Bavaria (despite enormous subsidies for the past 60 years), and theres a damn good reason for that.
BMW moved their production to West Berlin in the late 1960s (from Bavaria) due to a big attempt (read subsidies) from the German government to try desperately to stop West Berlin sliding into an abyss of economic uselessness. It was still a net recipient of over 4 billion DM a year in aid even by the late 1980s. Incredible when you consider it had barely 2 million people.
By the way, its not that the 12 is made in Berlin ...ALL BMW motorbikes are made in Berlin. I am looking forward to the new Chinese engines they will use in some of the bikes going forward, cause I have little doubt they will be more reliable than the Berlin ones.
Its not just that the labour that goes into the bikes relies heavily on economic underperformers and gastarbeiters, the engineers that go the motorcycle division are hardly the "premier cru" of the annual BMW graduate engineer intake either. Everytime the motorcycle division needs to solve a performance problem, they refer to the smarter, better equipped guys in the car division. If they need to squeeze a few more horsepower out of an engine, they will later happily boast that the automotive engineers redesigned the heads.
I spose its understandable, as the bike division generates barely 2% of the annual sales of the car division. If you are BMW, where are you going to put your top new engineers? Designing / Refining the cars? or the bikes?
Its also been pointed out before, but economically there is no real value to BMW to keep making motorcycles. Whats the point spending so much time, resources and money to maintain a division that adds 2% to the sales of the car division, a division that itself is growing 10% a year? The whole bike division production is worth a about 2 months of the new growth in the car division. They only do it as a link to the past. BMW has made motorcycles and motorcycle engines since WWI, and they want to maintain that link with their heritage. Again that implies they will throw minimal resources at it. Bikes are not a key strategic part of BMWs growth. Its just a symbolic token.
One thing surprised me a lot a couple of years ago when I did the BMW off road training in Hechlingen in Bavaria, (the main off road BMW school globally and where all of BMW's off road instructors globally are trained). I asked the instructors there if they had any input into the design or refinement of the bikes. I asked if the designers ever consulted them about what would be useful, what would work, what do they think about riding positions, gearing ratios etc ... nothing. The very good riders at BMW's main off road training centre have no contact at all with the designers just down the road in Munich. I found that startling, and a waste of excellent resources within BMW. This further confirmed my view that they are just designing bikes to meet marketing specifications, not to "build a better bike".
Thats just the way it is I guess. We still end up buying the bikes right?
BMW moved their production to West Berlin in the late 1960s (from Bavaria) due to a big attempt (read subsidies) from the German government to try desperately to stop West Berlin sliding into an abyss of economic uselessness. It was still a net recipient of over 4 billion DM a year in aid even by the late 1980s. Incredible when you consider it had barely 2 million people.
By the way, its not that the 12 is made in Berlin ...ALL BMW motorbikes are made in Berlin. I am looking forward to the new Chinese engines they will use in some of the bikes going forward, cause I have little doubt they will be more reliable than the Berlin ones.
Its not just that the labour that goes into the bikes relies heavily on economic underperformers and gastarbeiters, the engineers that go the motorcycle division are hardly the "premier cru" of the annual BMW graduate engineer intake either. Everytime the motorcycle division needs to solve a performance problem, they refer to the smarter, better equipped guys in the car division. If they need to squeeze a few more horsepower out of an engine, they will later happily boast that the automotive engineers redesigned the heads.
I spose its understandable, as the bike division generates barely 2% of the annual sales of the car division. If you are BMW, where are you going to put your top new engineers? Designing / Refining the cars? or the bikes?
Its also been pointed out before, but economically there is no real value to BMW to keep making motorcycles. Whats the point spending so much time, resources and money to maintain a division that adds 2% to the sales of the car division, a division that itself is growing 10% a year? The whole bike division production is worth a about 2 months of the new growth in the car division. They only do it as a link to the past. BMW has made motorcycles and motorcycle engines since WWI, and they want to maintain that link with their heritage. Again that implies they will throw minimal resources at it. Bikes are not a key strategic part of BMWs growth. Its just a symbolic token.
One thing surprised me a lot a couple of years ago when I did the BMW off road training in Hechlingen in Bavaria, (the main off road BMW school globally and where all of BMW's off road instructors globally are trained). I asked the instructors there if they had any input into the design or refinement of the bikes. I asked if the designers ever consulted them about what would be useful, what would work, what do they think about riding positions, gearing ratios etc ... nothing. The very good riders at BMW's main off road training centre have no contact at all with the designers just down the road in Munich. I found that startling, and a waste of excellent resources within BMW. This further confirmed my view that they are just designing bikes to meet marketing specifications, not to "build a better bike".
Thats just the way it is I guess. We still end up buying the bikes right?
