“We don’t have a final model ready, but you can give us your money.” - BMW, probably.
It looks like BMW
might have skipped a step in its creative process. A few months ago,
the Bavarian house showed the latest addition to its menu of concepts: a
delightfully retro-looking bobber armed with the company Big Boxer
engine yet. A final production version has yet to show up, but BMW is
ready to take your money!
Good news! The BMW R18
is apparently heading to production and deliveries are set to begin in
2020. The company is in fact now offering pre-bookings for the R18 in
France. What’s wrong with this picture? You mean, aside from the fact
that customers are expected to cough up €1,000 (US$1,1000) to book a
bike we have yet to see?
Since it showed its concept off back in May, BMW has been tight-lipped about the future of its striking, vintage-inspired bobber.
The concept introduced a number of really interesting features,
including the 60s Motorrad-inspired look and the massive 1800cc boxer
engine at its core. While the bike cuts a striking figure, there is
little to no information about it such as engine specs and settings.
Apparently,
BMW doesn’t need a fancy unveiling to confirm that the new model will
indeed be added to its lineup. All it needs to do is offer people to
pre-book it. The company says the deposit will be refundable provided
the production version of the model doesn’t meet the expectations or the
listed price ends up being too high—another unknown variable in this
equation.
This process seems a bit unusual—at this
point, you’d think we would at least see a production model to give
potential customers a taste of what they’re getting, right? Apparently,
BMW doesn’t need to do that and is hoping to get people excited with a
pretty concept and a handful of promises. Do... Do you need pocket money, BMW?
On the bright side, it means we should see the R 18 roll out of production next year!
