BMW X1 Local Assembly Begins In Malaysia

BMW Malaysia has officially introduced the locally-assembled BMW X1, which was launched for the Malaysian market back in April. Conducted at Inokom's plant in Kulim, Kedah, the local assembly of the X1 marks it as the first model—other than the BMW 3-Series and BMW 5-Series—that BMW Malaysia is assembling in 27 years.

The variant lineup remains the same, though buyers get more equipments at lower prices thanks to local assembly. The rear-wheel-drive, petrol-powered sDrive18i is now priced at RM 238,800, a RM 25K saving compared with before. The four-wheel-drive, diesel-powered xDrive20d offers much less a bargain as it is only RM 1K cheaper at RM 298,800 (prices are OTR without insurance).

The sDrive18i, which accounted for 75 percent of the total X1 sales, gains a new interior trim, a sports leather steering wheel, automatic anti-dazzle side door and rear-view mirrors and Park Distance Control (PDC).

The xDrive20d gets even more additional equipments to compensate for the lower price reduction. The extra equipments include a new interior wood trim, paddle shifters, iDrive system with BMW Navigation Professional, Bluetooth connectivity and a higher-spec audio system.

BMW Malaysia has sold around 200 units of the fully-imported X1 since its launch in April, and now expects the cheaper, better-equipped X1 variants to double sales for 2011. With the addition of the X1 and the improving economy, the total locally-assembled units of the three models are expected to increase from this year's 2900 units to 4900 units in 2011.