Confirmed: 2020 BMW R 18 cruiser to be launched in India on September 19
BMW Motorrad India will be launching its flagship and the only cruiser offering, the R 18 on September 19. The company dealerships all across the country have started accepting bookings for a token amount of Rs 1 lakh. The first set of motorcycles were imported in the country in the first week of August 2020. And now most of the BMW Motorrad dealerships have display units that are being previewed to prospective customers as well as the general public. This flagship offering is being brought to the country through the CBU route. The BMW R 18 cruiser could be priced at Rs. 20 lakh for the base variant and go all the way up to Rs 24 lakh for the fully-loaded version. The deliveries are expected to commence across the country from October 2020 onward.
The R 18 marks BMW's re-entry into the cruiser space and it rivals the likes of the Harley-Davidson Fatboy. The R 18's design is inspired by the yesteryear R 5 BMWs and therefore it showcased a similar, lean and minimalist design theme. It is powered by a 1,802cc boxer-twin engine - the largest of its kind on any production motorcycle - larger than even the R 1250 GS and is good for 91PS of power and 150Nm torque that is fed to a shaft drive configuration. The R 18 also features a BMW-typical electronics package, which includes riding modes, automatic stability and traction control, engine drag torque control which limits slip under hard downshifting, a reversing assist and even a Hill Start Control, much like the new R 1250 GS.
The modern-day equipment includes three unique riding modes - Rain, Roll and Rock - which in our opinion mean Wet, Comfort and Sport modes in layman terms. These come courtesy of a BMW -typical electronics package, which also includes automatic stability and traction control, engine drag torque control which limits slip under hard downshifting, a reversing assist and Hill Start Control, much like the new GS.