He said the Malaysian economy was faring well compared with the rest of the world and this would bode well for the local motor vehicle industry, especially the luxury segment.
Geoffrey Briscoe ... “The Malaysian economy is holding up well.’ “The Malaysian economy is holding up well. People are still spending. We’re not bullish about the rest of 2009 because we still feel that there are still tough times ahead,” he told StarBiz in an interview, adding that the local motor vehicle industry should “pick up” in 2010.
“Our finance rates are low. BMW Malaysia also provides good financial packages through its credit arm, BMW Credit, and our inventories are still high, so there has never been a better time to buy a BMW,” he added.
For the first seven months of 2009, BMW Malaysia sold 2,048 units compared with 2,133 during the same period in 2008.
It sold 3,512 BMW vehicles and 201 Mini cars in total last year.
BMW Malaysia’s share of the luxury segment was north of 40%, Briscoe said, adding that despite the dip in the 2009 year-to-date sales, he was upbeat about the company’s prospects going forward.
“Given the current economic climate, we are just 4% down in terms of sales volume. There are still several months to go for 2009 and we would be delighted if we could sell as many cars as we did last year,” he said.
BMW Malaysia’s bestseller is its 3-series (which averages 150 units a month) and the 5-series models.
“Our 3- and 5-series tend to go neck and neck in terms of volume but it’s usually the 3-series that’s ahead. We provide great financial packages for these models through BMW Credit,” Briscoe said.
BMW Malaysia has a majority of its 3- and 5-series completely-knocked-down models built at its plant in Kulim, Kedah, which is operated in partnership with plantation giant Sime Darby Bhd. Briscoe said the plant’s capacity was virtually “limitless.”
“The capacity of the plant can be extended to where we need it to be. We’d love to build more cars, like the X1 and 7-series and we are working with the Government to build those and other models in Malaysia,” he said.
As part of its strategy to provide “efficient dynamics,” BMW Malaysia plans to launch four diesel-powered vehicles in the last quarter of 2009; three of them sedans. The vehicles are expected to be in the 2.0 to 3.0-litre range.
“The diesel segment in Malaysia comprises either SUVs (sport utility vehicles) or commercial vehicles. There’s no passenger market for diesel and we want to create one,” Briscoe said.
He added that diesel-powered engines provided better torque and were more powerful, more fuel-efficient and produced less carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions compared with their petrol-based counterparts.
Briscoe said about 60% of cars sold in Europe were equipped with diesel engines.
The high sulphur content in Malaysian diesel fuel has hindered performance and deterred many car companies from introducing diesel-powered vehicles.
While diesel-powered BMW vehicles were already capable of handling the substandard diesel quality here, Briscoe said the introduction of the four new models was timely as Petronas was launching its Euro 2M standard diesel nationwide tomorrow.
“The Euro 2M diesel has low sulphur content of less than 500 parts per million (ppm) compared to some 3,000 ppm. To a layman like myself, that sounds like a huge reduction and great for the environment!
“We feel that our timing is spot-on because we are bringing in the right diesel cars at the right time,” he said.
Meanwhile, Briscoe said BMW Malaysia was looking to expand its BMW Premium Selection (BPS) used-car programme to more dealers to combat the local motor vehicle industry’s growing “grey market.”
The grey market refers to the importation of used vehicles from foreign countries to Malaysia by non-franchise car dealerships, which are then sold at a cheaper price. The grey importers do not provide verifiable servicing history or factory-backed warranties.
“There’s nothing worse than having a customer say that they have a bad BMW car, which is why we offer a fully backed BPS car as a viable alternative to the grey imports,” Briscoe said.
Vehicles sold under the BPS programme need to have an approved and documented vehicle history as part of the criteria, pass a strict 72-point check by factory-trained BMW experts, are technically and visually refurbished, less than five years old or have less than 100,000-km mileage.
Two dealers currently run the programme – Auto Bavaria Glenmarie (launched in December 2008) and Ingress Auto (launched in August 2008).
“Sales for (Auto Bavaria) Glenmarie have increased 60%. The used car business currently makes up 40% of their business. It’s been an enormous success,” Briscoe said.
“We’re happy to have Ingress aboard. To be part of the BPS programme, the potential dealer needs to go through a rigorous approval process and sign our BPS agreement that’s three inches thick and we are looking at reaching out to more dealers,” he added.
On another note, Briscoe said he could not agree more with its principal in Germany to pull out of Formula One (F1) next season.
“To be in F1, one needs to make continuous progress and it wasn’t sustainable for BMW to remain in the sport.
“BMW is the greenest luxury car company in the world and spends billions on fuel efficiency and CO2 reduction measures under our ‘efficient dynamics’ programme. It’s only right that its resources are focused on that,” he said.
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