[14] Bmw Scooter Becomes This Year Highlight

BMW Motorrad has built it all, from conquer-everything touring machines to corner-carving superbikes, but it has never had luck with scooters. Its one effort flopped like a fish on a pier, but that isn't stopping BMW from trying again.

The company rolled into the big EICMA motorcycle show in Milan with the Concept C, which it calls "the scooter of the future." It's pretty aggressive looking. You might even say it looks mean. It's certainly better looking than the oddball C1 scooter -- you know, the one with the roof -- BMW built between 2000 and 2003.

So why would the same company behind such magnificent machines as the R 1200 GS and S 1000 RR venture back into scooter territory? Money. BMW believes big scooters are "a highly promising business line."

Concept C offers a glimpse of not one but two "innovative premium scooters" we'll see wearing the blue and white rondel. "There are plans to manufacture these future production vehicles at the BMW Motorrad plant in Berlin," the company says. When we'll see them is anyone's guess.

The scooters are aimed primarily at urban commuters -- the "C" stands for "commuter" -- but BMW promises they'll follow "a sporty and dynamic path." How sporty and dynamic remains to be seen, as BMW offered only the vaguest specs. The C has a two-cylinder engine bolted to a continuously variable transmission. The suspension uses a monolever at the rear and an upside-down fork at the front. Of course it's got ABS.

BMW hinted that there could be an electric version at some point. That makes sense, given that BMW owns Mini, which showed off some retro electric-scooter concepts last month. And don't forget that BMW teased us with an electric version of the C1 scooter last year.

And just out of curiosity, is that Nick Heidfeld in the pics?

Photos: BMW