BMW Motorrad has issued a stop-sale order for nearly all new and used motorcycles sold through its dealer network in North America. However, in a statement, the company says that the action is not related to a safety issue, so owners can continue to ride their vehicles.
The German company says the stop-sale relates to a material used in the evaporative system. This means that the measure affects every single one of BMW's gas-powered motorcycles, but not its all-electric CE 04.
“Following a recent quality analysis, BMW is pursuing measures to further evaluate the material used in a component of its motorcycle evaporative system, which may not have been produced to material specifications,” BMW wrote in a statement first found by BMW Owner News. “This temporary stop sale is not safety related and BMW owners may continue to ride their motorcycles as normal.”
Although the company does not explain why this issue has led to the suspension of sales of all its motorcycles, the fact that the electric model is the only one not affected and that the measure is not related to safety has led many to speculate that the problem is related to the vehicles' emissions.
However, BMW describes the action as voluntary, and that it was therefore not forced by any regulatory body to issue the stop-sale order. Hopefully, this indicates that this is an honest mistake and not a widespread case of malfeasance like Volkswagen's Dieselgate scandal.
Unfortunately, many details remain to be disclosed in this case. What is certain, however, is that consumers looking for a new BMW motorcycle will have to wait a while if they are looking for a regular non-electric two-wheel model from the renowned German brand.
Source: Carscoops
