BMW has revealed plans to celebrate 90 years of motorcycling with a new model next year.

BMW Motorrad president Stephan Schaller, in releasing a sketch design, announced at the EICMA motorcycle show in Milan that the new model will come with an air-cooled "boxer" engine "as a special way of marking the 90 year anniversary.

The concept appears - in part - to be a tribute to the BMW's first motorcycle, the R32, which debuted in 1923 and became the "genetic" basis for the boxer series over nine decades with an air-cooled, two cylinder four stroke boxer engine.

BMW says the new, distinctive motorcycle to be produced next year will express the genes of 90 years of BMW Motorrad combined with emotional styling and innovative technology to create a new, multifaceted vehicle concept.

The model designation and date of the market launch will be announced at a later date.

- © Fairfax NZ News