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Inside BMW: From skunk works to Motorrad Days

4493 Views 13 Replies 8 Participants Last post by sarnali2, Sep 9, 2010

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Discussion Starter · Sep 8, 2010

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Inside BMW: From skunk works to Motorrad Days

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seruzawa

· #7 · Sep 9, 2010

Kenneth_Moore said:
And we have Harley, content to pump out yet another iteration of the same damn bikes they've been building for over a century.

BMW seems a lot more willing to re-invest in themselves and their products. Look at what they've done in the past few years: they basically invented and own the ADV catagory. The S1000R blew away decades of Japanese domination of superbikes for the masses.

Maybe Harley has an R&D center, but I'll bet it's full of stylists figuring out the newest paint job for their old bikes, and not engineers building a new engine design.

Maybe getting shorn from HD will be the best thing that ever happened to Buell. It'd be wonderful to see Eric selling a load of performance bikes. Maybe that'd give the HD stockholders the impetus they need to dump their CEO.

Harley-Davidson CEO gets $6.4 million pay package in 2009 « The Daily Reporter

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seruzawa

· #11 · Sep 9, 2010 (Edited)

Honda could take a cue from BMW. BMW obviously lets the 2 wheeled Division go its own way. Just compare BMW's generally quality and reliable bikes to their overpriced, stiff riding and high maintenance cost 4 wheel offerings.

Seems like only BMW, Triumph, KTM and Kawasaki are trying to put some excitement in the market. And to a lesser degree Yamaha. It's notable that Yammer, Kwacker, KTM and Trumpet do not have automobile divisions at all. It's also notable that the smaller companies seem to be doing the most.

Though I have absolutely no sympathy for Harley any more it's only fair to note that of all the bike companies only HD has a substantial portion of public that actually get angry at the company and ridicule it for trying to modernize. Look at how the Harley "Faithful" reacted to Buell. Heck, a lot of them don't even like Sportsters. That's a tough attitude to overcome and no other company faces it. Except for a small handful of Boxer owners but they are an extreme minority of Beemerphiles.

I'll still bet that getting shorn from HD and its kicked-in-the-head attitude will be the best thing that could happen to Buell.

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seruzawa

· #12 · Sep 9, 2010

Kevin_Duke said:
Sarcasm, right...?

I think he owned one of their cars once.

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