Abstract
Introduced in 1999, during the car fair trade of Frankfurt, the BMW C1 scooter was a breakthrough in the two-wheeler world. It was the first scooter that you can ride without wearing a helmet. It is an advanced hybrid form between an automobile and a motorcycle. After having sold 10,614 units in 2001, BMW only sold 2,000 units in 2002, and ceased the manufacturing of the C1 in October 2002. It was never made available in the USA. BMW is strongly associated with high quality, safety and stylized cars. The German car manufacturer strategy is to make high margins on medium sized sales volumes. Compared to other competitors, the firm has a narrow range of models and is positioned on the upper market. The launch of a scooter was a test for the conservative firm, it had never created a scooter before and as far as the design of the scooter is concerned, it was very innovative and its features were clearly advanced. The scooter had been on the market for 3 years, and 3 071 scooters had been sold in the UK. BMW withdrew the Cityone from the market because of high manufacturing costs due to small volume. Since 2002, the Cityone has disappeared from the BMW dealers' network but is still a very coveted scooter on the used market.
