BMW Motorrad just announced that Josef Honeder will take over as Head of Development starting June 1, replacing Christof Lischka after a six-year run that completely reshaped the company’s adventure bike lineup. At first glance, this looks like standard corporate reshuffling. But once you look at the backgrounds of the two guys involved, BMW’s long-term strategy starts becoming pretty obvious.
Lischka’s era at BMW Motorrad was all about making the brand’s bikes more aggressive, more athletic, and way more off-road focused. Under his watch, BMW rolled out the current BMW R 1300 GS, BMW R 1300 GS Adventure, BMW F 900 GS, BMW F 900 GS Adventure, BMW F 800 GS, and the upcoming BMW F 450 GS. BMW spent the last several years proving its GS lineup could do more than cruise between coffee shops with aluminum panniers strapped to the sides.
