BMW iX appears on Malaysian website – is it coming?

Here’s some interesting news – BMW’s new, fully electric iX SUV has popped up on the BMW Malaysia website, suggesting that something is afoot locally. Now, before we go any further, we’d like to point out that there is no way the car is coming here any time soon; Munich hasn’t even released any real details of the iX, let alone begun production. That’s way off towards the end of next year.

But the appearance does mean that BMW Group Malaysia is at least interested in bringing the car in, which is consistent with its recent trajectory. The company has been steadily introducing electrified vehicles from both its core range as well as the BMW i sub-brand, including the i3s electric hatch last year.

Like the i3s, the iX will likely benefit from tax exemptions if it does come to Malaysia, as part of the government’s push for electrification – even though the car will almost certainly be fully imported. The website includes a form for those who want to stay informed about the new model.

Although BMW has revealed the controversial design of the new iX last month, it hasn’t provided much in the way of technical details. What we do know is that the iX will be available with a power output of more than 500 PS – likely by way of a front and rear motor – to allow it to hit 100 km/h in under five seconds. The largest battery option will also have a capacity of over 100 kWh, enabling a range of over 600 km.

Malaysia’s lead times for BMW product launches have been pretty short these days – we’ve also seen the introduction of the G80 M3 and G82 M4 Competition earlier in December, just two months after the cars were revealed to the world. Just like the iX, these high-performance models have yet to go into production, with the global market launch only slated to kick off in March.

The post BMW iX appears on Malaysian website – is it coming? appeared first on Paul Tan's Automotive News.

from Paul Tan's Automotive News
Read The Rest:paultan...