Petrol heads, you might want to look away for a minute. Last year, BMW Group Malaysia put 7,500 units of new plug-in hybrids on the road which accounted for 57% of all new passenger cars sold by the Group. And from what was communicated at a recent business briefing, its electrification initiative is ‘charging ahead’ in 2019 and beyond.
While the motivation to acquire premium hybrid vehicles in Malaysia is largely driven by competitive retail prices (which are incentivised by the government if the vehicle is locally assembled) and not necessarily environmental concerns, BMW Malaysia has made its electrification strategy pay off with improving annual sales volumes alongside increased local investments in the past few years.
The achievement isn’t to be scoffed at as few car companies in the world can claim to have such a sizable electrified portfolio so early in the game, something which BMW Group Malaysia has clearly done. If anything, it is doubling down on efforts to beef up its BMW i charging facilities with the launch of the latest one at Bangsar Shopping Complex, Kuala Lumpur – taking over the same spot where Mercedes-Benz EQ-branded charging stations used to be, but now there are six instead of three chargers. Cheeky.
