BMW C400X Midsize Maestro?

First ride on BMW’s latest entry into the urban mobility sector – its first midsize scooter developed in Germany, but to be wholly manufactured in China by Loncin

- Alan Cathcart

It’s been exactly seven years since BMW Motorrad re-entered the personal transportation sector, after coming to the party a bit too early back in 2000 with the, er, idiosyncratic C1, prices for which have since gone through the roof – very aptly, since of course it had one. BeeEm’s comeback to the two-wheeled world of urban mobility came in July 2012, with the advent of its maxi-scooter duo, the C650GT and C600 (since uprated to C650 Sport). Their parallel-twin engines were and still are made in China by Loncin BMW’s established Asian partner, which had from 2009 onwards also produced the G650GS singlecylinder motorcycle’s 652cc engine. The German manufacturer’s steep pricing for its twist-n-go twins hasn’t deterred 70,000 examples of them from finding customers since then, alongside around 1,200 versions each year of the even costlier full-electric C evolution E-scooter which appeared two years later, in 2014.