EICMA 2012: BMW Announces New Boxer to Mark 90th Anniversary

Over the summer, we came across spy photos of a new naked version of the BMW S1000RR and a new air-cooled boxer roadster and hoped at least one of the two would be unveiled at either Intermot or the EICMA. Intermot came and went without a word and now EICMA is upon us we have … well, several words but no new model. Yet.

BMW announced in Milan it will introduce a new air-cooled boxer sometime in 2013 to mark the 90th year of BMW Motorrad. Formerly an aircraft engine maker, BMW first started producing motorcycles in 1923 with the R32, a 486cc Boxer Twin mounted longitudinally with a shaft drive.

That engine configuration has remained a fixture in BMW’s lineup in the last 90 years including the company’s top-selling model, the R1200GS.BMW is mum on details about the 90th anniversary model, but the teaser image above suggests it is the roadster captured in the spy photos. Judging by the way the pipes exit the cylinders, it looks like the new model will use the previous generation engine as used in the R1200R and not the new engine introduced on the 2013 BMW R1200GS which has the pipes exit from the bottom.

It looks like we’ll have to wait a few months before BMW gives us more details about this upcoming 90th Anniversary of BMW Motorrad model.

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[Source: BMW]

By Dennis Chung