With sales of 78,418 motorcycles and maxi scooters worldwide in the January-June 2015 period (Jan-June 2014: 70,978 units), BMW Motorrad has posted a new six-month record. This represents an increase of 10.5% year on year. June sales too saw a double-digit increase over the previous month by 31.0 % to 15,490 vehicles (June 2014: 11,827 units).

Heiner Faust, BMW Motorrad head of sales and marketing, said: "Never before have we supplied this many vehicles to our customers. We are well on track to set a new sales record at the end of this year. The new generation of water-cooled boxer models, our custom roadster and the family of sporty S models are creating a veritable surge in demand."

The company says there are powerful growth stimuli coming from the major European markets of Italy, France, the UK, Spain and Germany. Demand for BMW motorcycles is also rising steadily in Asian markets and China in particular is showing considerable growth potential with a dynamic increase in sales.

The frontrunner in sales this year remains the water-cooled R 1200 GS which has sold 14,099 units. This is followed in second and third place by the two Boxer models R 1200 GS Adventure and R 1200 RT with 10,429 and 6,471 units respectively.

In fourth place is the custom bike R nineT which sold 5,868 units, exceeding expectations in its second year on the market. The R 1200 R and RS round off the wide model range of the R series with excellent sales figures.

In the upper output spectrum, all S series models with 1-litre 4-cylinder engine are seeing very high levels of demand. Since the recent market launch of the new S 1000 XR, the S series is now complete with three models. Both the supersports bike S 1000 RR (5,654 units) and the power roadster S 1000 R (4,134 units) have developed into volume models.