Auto Bavaria (AB) officially opened the doors of the first BMW i showroom and service centre in Malaysia this evening. The i dealership is part of AB’s large downtown KL facility along Jalan Tun Razak, close to the Ampang Park/Intermark junction.
Occupying 1,383 sq.ft. on the first floor of AB KL, the BMW i showroom features the sub-brand’s identity, furniture and fittings. The space houses a display unit of the BMW i8 and the BMW i Wallbox wall-mounted charging accessory for the car.
“Customers of the BMW i8 can be rest assured that our BMW i centre will offer excellent day to day support for their BMW i vehicle. This includes service and maintenance appointments as well as vehicle repairs and on the road assistance, with a dedicated mobile charging device for owners courtesy of our BMW i Mobile Care Centre,” said Jeffrey Gan, MD of AB.
AB KL has a dedicated team to serve BMW i customers, who can also visit any BMW dealership and find qualified personnel to handle the i8, BMW Group Malaysia MD and CEO Alan Harris assured. He declined to reveal how many units of the RM1,188,800 car have been sold in Malaysia, just saying that the limited allocation for Malaysia has been fully accounted for.
Launched at the BMW World Malaysia 2015 event in April, the BMW i8 is powered by a 1.5 litre turbocharged three-cylinder engine with 231 hp and 320 Nm of torque sent to the rear wheels via a six-speed automatic gearbox. A liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery juices up an electric motor that produces 131 hp and 250 Nm for the front wheels. In total, the i8 has 362 hp and 570 Nm, good for a 0-100 km/h time of 4.4 seconds. This hybrid powertrain won the 2015 International Engine of the Year award.
The i8 will be living alone in KL for the time being, as the i3 hatchback won’t be joining it anytime soon. Harris said that it’s necessary to have charging infrastructure in place, and that’s something BMW Malaysia is currently talking with the government and related agencies about. “Once that comes, we will consider bringing in the i3,” he said.
In August, BMW Malaysia announced that it was working together with GreenTech Malaysia to offer i8 customers access to the latter’s ChargEV public charging services and facilities over the coming year. Read our review of the BMW i8.
GALLERY: BMW i8
