Earlier this week, BMW opened its second-biggest standalone showroom in the world dedicated purely to its M cars. Pretoria, South Africa is now second only to a similar showroom in Singapore. Ian Robertson, member of the board of management of BMW AG responsible for sales and marketing and former boss of BMW SA, was on-site to open new facility at Zambesi Auto.
Robertson spoke about the importance of the M brand and its worldwide value to customers. Last year, South Africa placed fifth in the world in terms of overall M market share with a total of 916 M cars sold to its customers.
Furthermore, the M sales boss emphasized once again the importance of electro-mobility for BMW across its entire range of models. Which includes M cars as well.
“Electrification is essential going forward and will appear across the BMW range,” he says, adding: “I would not rule out an M car that fits that strategy.”
While a fully-fledged electric M car is out of the question – at least for the foreseeable future – an electric-assisted M model is likely in the cards. We suspect the company will look at a plug-in hybrid setup similar to regular models like the 330e. This would offer instant torque courtesy of an electric motor, combined with a downsized petrol engine.
“M products are taking on sustainability solutions,” says Robertson. ” Customers want everything from an M, but want us to deliver on sustainability.”
[Source: bdlive.co.az]
