Demand for BMW Motorrad robust due to COVID 'after-effect': Vikram Pawah

Bengaluru, May 11 (PTI) The BMW Motorrad is seeing robust demand which can be attributed to changing customer mindset after the Covid-19 pandemic, BMW Group India president Vikram Pawah said on Wednesday.

“On a positive note, I can say that the demand after COVID is quite robust all of sudden, especially in the premium segment. That’s a good sign and it’s an after-effect of COVID. The human perspective, mindset and behaviour have changed,” Pawah told PTI at the launch of second BMW Motorrad dealership JSP Motorrad at Koramangala here.

Pawah said when he spoke to customers, he noticed a lot of change in their thinking.

“Earlier they were quite conservative. After COVID, people realised that they need to think of other things as well. They think they need to be a little more adventurous, a little more exploratory,” he said.

“People who had not thought of premium car earlier have suddenly started thinking. If we can survive COVID, why should we not live properly, Pawah added.

According to him, in the last four years, BMW sold 13,000 bikes, of which 5,074 bikes were sold in the calendar year of 2021 alone, which was a growth of 102 per cent over 2020. Also in the first four months of 2022, over 2,000 BMW bikes were sold in India.

The BMW India chief, however, said the COVID restriction did put a spanner in the wheel for some time but as soon as the market started opening, the demand bounced back strongly.

“I think what we're seeing after COVID is that a lot of people are attaching to this adventure biking also,” Pawah said.

From road biking earlier, Indians are slowing moving towards the off-road or adventure enduro, according to him.

Stating that there was a "fantastic" adoption to various range especially the G-310-R, Pawah said India is a very potential market for BMW Motorrad.

He also said it had also seen an impressive sales of imported products.

“My expectation will be always very strong, high, two-digit growth on a year-on-year basis,” Pawah explained.

Speaking about the Maxi-scooter, the C400 GT gearless scooter, he said it was launched in the middle of 2021. It was also liked in India very much, he added.

“We call it a maxi-scooter because it's a very powerful big scooter, which rides like a bike. In the first year of launch, we almost sold 100 units,” Pawah said.

He added that the price of the scooter is around Rs 10 lakh.

Speaking about the chip shortage, the BMW India head said: "I think we we are in a better position compared to the rest of the manufacturers across the world. I'm not saying we are immune from it. Of course, there is an impact on us, but that is much much less,” he added.