..:: AUTO REPORT AFRICA ::..
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David Sanni
The BMW R1250 GSACoscharis Motors, the sole franchisee of BMW vehicles and Motorrad in Nigeria, recently welcomed Mariusz Sliwa to its showroom in Lekki, Lagos while on tour of Africa in his BMW R1250 GSA. BMW Motorrad’s vision is ambitious but simple: Becoming the most desirable motorcycle brand in the world. Coscharis Motors has sold and serviced a series of BMW Bikes since the 2000 immediately it got the BMW franchise in Nigeria. While the Coscharis Motors most prominently sold model remains the BMW R1200 series, which is the BMW Authority bike, the company services an array of BMW Bike models.
During the recent visit, BMW Bike enthusiast and owner, Mariusz Sliwa from Germany, stopped over in Lagos having started his journey from Germany on his tour of Africa in his BMW R1250GSA.
Mariusz Sliwa said he embarked on the tour because he drives for fun and always want to be on the road, stressing that driving with BMW Bike makes the journey easy. This confirms the Motorcycle Industry Council Consumer Experience Study that shows that BMW Bike owners are experienced riders who have 34 years of riding experience and cover 3 times as many miles as the average adventure bike owner in a year (5,000 vs 1,700).
Sliwa has always been a customer of the BMW Bike and this current one was bought in February 2019 being the latest model.
BMW Brand Manager for Coscharis Motors, Cletus Aregbeshola, stated that Sliwa’s stopover in Nigeria was an opportunity to get his BMW Bike serviced by Coscharis Motors, the sole franchise dealership of BMW, and to ensure that only genuine parts are utilized for the service.
Mark Peine, BMWs Marketing Communications Manager, explained that BMW GSA owners can pat themselves on the back a little bit harder with 35 years of riding experience as they cover 5,200 miles/year. Silwa started his journey in Mid August and has spent over 200 hours on the road travelling exactly 12000 Kilometres with 8000kms spent in Africa.
For Mariusz Sliwa, his confidence in the BMW GSA model plus its reliability, prompted him to tour the length of Africa. He started his Journey from Germany – Holland – Belgium – France – United Kingdom – Ireland – Spain, ( 28 hours on the ship to Spain from Ireland), from Spain to Morocco and then to Nigeria via Benin.
From Nigeria, he plans to ride en-route Cameroon, South Africa and so on till he finishes the tour. He has set a one year target to complete the tour.
The base R1250GSA is only available in Ice Grey, but there are lots of new pieces for 2019. The intake snorkel cover, radiator cover, and crash bars (both for the engine and tank) are all new, as is the black GS molded cover on the storage compartment on the top of the tank. There are also steering geometry and wheelbase differences compared to the previous years.
