At this year’s Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este in Lake Como, Italy, BMW showed off a new scooter design study called the Motorrad Concept Link. The company calls its creation “the reinvention of urban mobility on two wheels” with a focus on zero emissions, a uniquely styled body, and a connected experience to make the rider’s day-to-day life easier and simpler.
Inspired by the BMW Motorrad Vision Next 100, the Motorrad Concept Link (let’s just call it the Link) has everybody’s favorite future-think propulsion system, a fully electric powertrain. Flat battery packs are stored in the floor, and a small motor spins the rear wheel. Because it’s only a concept, there are no specifics on the batteries’ capacities, how much power they provide, how quickly they charge, or how much driving range they afford riders.
Aesthetically, the Link looks like a BMW touring bike shrunk down to scooter size. Even so, it appears only slightly less dorky than a typical mini two-wheeler. With the traditional gas engine out of the picture, designers were able to create a more streamlined silhouette with a low height, a floating seat, and geometric paneling and scoops. The space freed up by the absentee gas engine also allows for more onboard storage. For example, a clever sliding side door opens to a luggage compartment beneath the seat.
The design is merely one link in the Link’s chain of forward-looking features. Next is its ability to plug into riders’ connected lifestyles. According to Edgar Heinrich, head of BMW Motorrad, “The BMW Motorrad Concept Link stands for a new understanding of urban mobility. It links the digital and analog worlds and places the focus on the rider and his mobility needs” by adopting much of the connected tech seen in today’s latest four-wheelers. While things like speed, navigation, and battery status are projected onto the windscreen, a digital touchscreen display in the scooter’s dash offers “extensive infotainment, connectivity and routing information.” Because riders sometimes wear gloves, additional controls are located on the handlebars. The Link concept can also plot out future trips and select music based on riders’ future calendar appointments. It can also link—there’s no other word for it, people—to a special jacket so that when the wearer flails his or her arms, the storage compartment opens or closes. It sure ain’t the new 8-Series concept BMW also showed at Villa d’Este, but can that car respond to a matching jacket’s movements? We think not.
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