Just under a year after the regular G30 BMW 5 Series arrived on our shores, the plug-in hybrid version, the BMW 530e iPerformance, has finally been launched in Malaysia. The petrol-electric executive sedan arrives in locally-assembled form (CKD) with a much cheaper retail price – owing to tax incentives provided under the Energy Efficient Vehicle (EEV) scheme – but with a slightly lower level of standard kit.
Available in just a single Sport Line variant, the 530e costs RM343,800 on-the-road without insurance. That’s RM45,000 cheaper than the 530i that was the sole 5 Series model offered up to this point, although that did come in sportier M Sport form. Included in the price is a five-year, unlimited-mileage warranty, five years’ free scheduled maintenance and a two-year tyre warranty.
Let’s start with the meat and potatoes first, the powertrain. Under the bonnet sits the ubiquitous B48 2.0 litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine, here making 184 hp from 5,000 to 6,500 rpm and 290 Nm of torque from 1,350 to 4,250 rpm. This is paired to a 113 hp/250 Nm electric motor to produce a total system output of 252 hp and 420 Nm of torque – identical in power and an increase of 70 Nm compared to the petrol 530i.
The electric motor is integrated to the ZF eight-speed automatic transmission, which allows the ratios to be used in all-electric mode and negates the need for a torque converter. This helps offset the additional weight brought on by the motor and the battery.
All this means that the 530e is capable of sprinting from zero to 100 km/h in just 6.2 seconds (identical to the 530i) before hitting a top speed of 235 km/h. Combined fuel consumption on the European NEDC cycle is rated at 2.0 litres per 100 km, while carbon dioxide emissions are quoted at 46 grams per kilometre.
Under the rear seats sits a 9.2 kWh lithium-ion battery, enabling the 530e to run in electric mode at speeds of up to 140 km/h, with an all-electric range of 48 km – 13 km further than the smaller 330e. Real-world range in hybrid mode is pegged at 644 km. BMW says that charging the battery takes under five hours from a domestic socket, or under three hours with the 3.7 kW BMW i Wallbox.
Onwards to standard kit, and to the items the 530e loses compared to the 530i. Aside from missing out on the M Sport appearance package, it also doesn’t get adaptive LED headlights (full-LED headlights still remain, of course), a sunroof, the gimmicky Gesture Control system, the touchscreen-equipped BMW Display Key and the 16-speaker Harman Kardon sound system. Adaptive cruise control, which was deleted from the 530i with the move to local assembly, is also missing here.
The rest of the equipment remains, including LED fog lights, 19-inch alloy wheels (in a different V-spoke design), BMW Individual satin aluminium exterior trim, Comfort Access keyless entry, power-adjustable sports seats with driver’s side memory, four-zone auto climate control, sunblinds for the rear windows (manual) and windscreen (electric), 11-colour ambient lighting, a hands-free powered bootlid and Dynamic Damper Control.
You also get the upgraded Professional navigation system with a 10.25-inch touchscreen, along with a full 12.3-inch multifunction instrument display, a reverse camera and Park Assistant for automated parallel and perpendicular parking manoeuvres, plus a 12-speaker, 205-watt HiFi sound system.
Safety-wise, the 530e comes with the Driving Assistant package that adds Approach Control Warning and Person Warning with City Brake function, operating at speeds between 10 km/h and 60 km/h for pedestrians and 80 km/h for vehicles. Other features included in the pack include Lane Departure Warning, Lane Change Warning, rear collision prevention and rear crossing traffic warning.
Buyers can choose between Glacier Silver Metallic, Alpine White, Mediterranean Blue Metallic, Carbon Black Metallic and Bluestone Metallic exterior colours, while black (with contrasting white stitching and piping) or Cognac Dakota leather upholstery feature inside.
Read our in-depth international review of the new G30 BMW 530e iPerformance here, and you can also browse full specifications and equipment, and get the best deals on a new car, on CarBase.my.
Looking to sell your car? Sell it with myTukar.
(Like) S90 T8 407 hp.
(Dislike) 530e 252 hp
Why 2.0T only produces 184hp?
Thats because this is not BMW’s top tier 5 Series (there is still the 540i, 550i, M5 above it), but for Volvo, the S90 T8 is their top of the line S90. Hence, they can throw everything into the car to make it their best (which is why the engine alone makes 300hp or thereabouts). BMW puts the powerful engines into their higher tier models. If they put the 250hp spec engine into the 530e, it would go faster than the 530i, which might mean less sales for the 530i, which in some markets cost the same as 530e. They also did this purely so the 530e would not overshadow the 530i, which costs more here.
I’m happy with my 11.0s (0-100) Vios
Hundreds of BMw faithful followers just jumped ship to Mercedes.
Just one small mistake and hundreds overnight jumped ship
Jepunis cars nowadays slow like snails
BMW can you please be open and inform people how much the battery cost.
Most buyers have no clue how much the battery cost and get a shock of their lives when they find out.
Paul Tan also should inform the cost of the battery in the article. After all the jist of the 530e vehicle is its Battery and Plug in function
If that’s the reason, why not just use 1.6T? It is more than enough to pump 184hp…oh sorry, 1.6T might malukan 5 series buyers
Looking at the comments here and how negative they are, looks like the rakyat and ardent BMW fans feel cheated
If car flooded, BMW cover 530e lithium-ion batt & electric motor under warranty or insurance.
That is a good point. this sounds very costly as there will be a higher premium
And don’t forget once warranty finishes. 2nd hand value will plummet because people will be scared to buy the car out of warranty.
Do you know the battery for the 530e is RM100k? Yes, you read that right. The battery is RM100k.
SO imagine what happens when warranty runs out. And imagine the value of the car when warranty is about to run out.
The battery of 330e consist of 5 pieces linked. The 5 pieces total price 25k roughly. Battery can be changed per piece unlike older audi hybrid. Each piece around 5 k. Im suprise there are retard out there without any information can confidently speak non fact info of 100k. I guess their r not up to class.
In Malaysia, the rich enjoy EEV tax discounts. Like this car, RM30k cheaper. The same with the X5, original price RM588k, now RM388k
The same with Mercedes S400h, original price RM900k. Tax rebate for EEV, it becomes RM550k
Volvo XC90 original price RM600k. Selling now for RM390k
BMW 740Le original price RM900k, now selling RM570k
But the poor people suffer. Honda City Hybrid cost RM10k more than the Honda City non Hybrid.
Looks like EEV tax only make the rich richer.
Is this the NAP Gomen is talking about? the EEV only benefits the rich.
The poor people don’t see any benefit. The Honda City got EEV status and went up in price. The Toyota Vios also got EEV status and UMW never reduced a sen
Ahh, so u finally brought back ur real nick. Anyways heres for u https://paultan.org/2017/09/07/honda-city-hybrid-over-rm100k-without-tax-breaks/
john, only a fool will believe Honda City Hybrid is over RM100k without tax breaks
pre-reg 328k BMW 530i seemed a great bargain now!
Pre Reg at RM328k. But 2nd hand market, prices have dropped to below RM290k
It is not the G who sell the car. Blame those greedy Japs Brand or rather I say the greedy local authorizes dealers of Jpas Brand?.
Albert Yong,
Can I ask where your sourced a price of RM100K for a replacement battery for this car?
I think your figure is a long way off and nowhere near as high as the price you have quoted.
Albert You are a cock story teller. It doesn’t cost 100k just confirmed with a SA. It’s 5k a module. They have 6 in 530e. Talk coc
Omg, this price will kill E class hybrid and Audi nicely. Bye bye also to lower class Passat and S90 where it will take some of its already low market share
Wow, it doesn’t get adaptive LED headlights, a sunroof, a head-up display, Gesture Control system, the touchscreen-equipped BMW Display Key and the 16-speaker Harman Kardon sound system? That’s where the 30k went I suppose.
Betul..another con job by bmw malaysia. Its ok just dont rush to buy. Later they will upgrade the spec and maintain the same pricing..
Better buy Mercedes E350e. Somemore it is a known fact, besides the E350e being loaded in features, all Mercedes service and parts cost HALF than BMW.
I know cause I own a Merc W212 and BMW F10. Every single part in the BMW cost DOUBLE than Mercedes.
So, might as well buy a MErcedes
Yes. Choose Mesidis.
P1, Mesidis, Geely, VolvoCar, VolvoTruck > all
@Albert, Your statement proved that you are just a good story teller, a kb warrior. Hahahaha
mercedes, bmw owner wont play internet so your statement therefore is fake.
Be patience and wait for M Sport version like that 330e.
30k lower in price, but missing a lot of features, so then where’s PHEV CKD tax break discount? Factor in the loss of features on a 530i and the price would be similar to 530e. What the??
Probably BMW have hire some former UMW senior management staff
They also takes out the auto start stop function.
At least adaptive LED headlights should be given IN 530e
Can BMW Malaysia please stop removing features? Sunroof, HUD and Harman Kardon speakers are the only features on my criteria list.
I don’t mind them removing the sunroof…..wait a minute the 330e has it!!! Seriously in that segment competing with the E class BMW Malaysia really need to give adaptive LED headlights, HUD and surround view system la. Removing the adaptive cruise control on the CKD 530i was already a bummer what more this. Let’s not get started on the missing Harman Kardon sound system….
I rather buy a 6 month old 530i, now selling for RM288k.
I have no idea why people want to waste money and buy new.
don’t talk kok! cheapest used 530i in mudah is RM328,888!
My bro just bought G30 Mspec used below 5k km for Rm 282k
E350e no HUD
We also beg they add the bowers & wilkins sound system that already included in volvo xc90 for malaysia market. But they takes out the harman kardon sound system from 530i to 530e?? Screw u BMW Malaysia!
feels like tin kosong
Or, abscence of selling points.
Not even a 360° or even front camera is provided. It’s 2018 and a luxury 5 series can’t even afford to add a few cameras? And what’s with adaptive cruise control and semi autonomous driving being removed???
This is crap.
Celaka BMW Malaysia deleted too many kit leh really wtf. Adaptive LED, surround view system and HUD damn important la wei. Even the crap Vios can be had with a surround view system!
In short, BMW shortchanged the public. The tex savings are not passed on to the consumers
Yes indeed. They show u they give u the EEV incentive but senyap2 remove kits.
That’s why next time never support CKD products. They remove this and remove that just to bring down the price, then let govt claim credit they reduced car prices. Car dealers WIN, govt WINS, consumers LOSE…
Seeing that the 740e was better equipped but cheaper than its big brother the 740i, I feel that BMW Malaysia is just ripping Malaysians off with this 530e. Cheaper yes. Less specced.
Why 740e can be better specced and cheaper but this 530e is scaled down?
Have they gotten cocky after winning the latest award? Very disappointed with BMW Malaysia. Don’t bite the hands that feed you!
that’s because 740e is priced at 598k, not 444k, it’s a huge leap in pricing. If 530e maintained all the features with an increase of about 15k, i don’t tink ppl will mind.
even honda has sensing
what is d point of introducing a hybrid variant to enjoy tax breaks if the given car is poorly specced ,
i have no idea what is the actual cost of the hyrid powertrain compared to the usual petrol one, but by checking the prices of similarly specced 530e n 530d msport in d uk shows that they are similarly priced ( the only petrol model on sale there to my google based info is the 540i)
which would deduce that tax breaks enjoyed here would have (probably) covered the costs of the hybrid system while keeping the same specs
i mean….c300e has air suspensions for god sake , d car class above doesnt even have premium audio
BMW Malaysia managed to bring down the X5 price by quite a margin and it still had a lot of kit in it. I smell greed coming from BMW Malaysia trying to capitalize on their successes with the X5 and 330e hybrids.
Shame on u BMW M’sia, no adaptive cruise control?
Shame on you BMW Malaysia for removing so many specs!!!
Very interesting offering from BMW, using the hybrid tax rebate to add in a model that slots below the 530i at a very competitive price. I was expecting BMW Malaysia to screw over petrol buyers like with the X5, but they did a good job.
FYI, they can’t make the car even cheaper, it’ll cause cannablism within the X5 40e and 530i lineup.
Even it cannibalize other models, it’s no difference is it? All still enter their pockets. So just give what customer want and channel the EEV incentive to customer la.
Bulb signal light but not led signal light?
Omg !
Yet another new release and the specs get dropped!
Why does it feel that Malaysians continually get ripped off when it comes to cars?
I’m really fed up being treated with contempt by these manufactures!
The only way it will ever change is if the consumer voices their opinion but many seem to have the “oh well…” attitude.
It’s a disgrace.
Consumers must voice with their wallets. Go for value.
We need to boycott them like how we boycott proton
They should have given us 2 trim levels for the 530e. One which is cheaper but ommite features and one which is full specs.
Good idea but the problem here is BMW already release a tin kosong and the price isn’t right. This Sport trim 530e should have been retailing for around 300k while the higher M Sport 530e should have taken over this price point. Bmw Malaysia managed to bring down the price by quite a margin for the 330e and X5 40e but not with the 5er. All in all bloody disappointed with BMW Malaysia for screwing up the price for this very good model. Hope they don’t sell well and have to offer massive discounts later and launch a proper M Sport model with all the deleted kit added back and then more.
Sean, agree totally with you.
They have taken a really nice car with good specs and dumbed it down to pocket more coin for themselves. If that is not the case BMW Malaysia, then tell us all why it has this price ticket with reduced specs. I’ll be more than happy to be proved wrong, however, for now it looks like a simple case of greed.
I really hope this comes back to bite them on the backside in the very near future.
I’ll keep saying it, Malaysian consumers get treated like idiotic muppets !
How much different is the boot capacity and overall weight against 530i?
bmw removes so many features because this 530e, the e stands for ‘economy’
Sorry…I can’t math this. Maybe I am too noob in this department. If someone can shed some lights on me, that will be highly appreciated.
1. 184 hp and 290 Nm from Petrol Engine.
2. 113 hp and 250 Nm from electric motor
I thought out put in just adding up both number? which should be 297 hp and 540 Nm instead of 252 hp and 420 Nm of torque?
– I Have Just Added A Comment –
It’s because the engine and motor’s peak power have different rpm.
It comes up to the same thing. If you add up the value of all the missing features, it’s probably the same price as a 530i. Another joke by bmw Malaysia
It’s purely greed bro.
this car’s century sprint is fast but not the top speed.
I think most of you should stop what you’re doing now and straight away join the automotive companies so that people like me can enjoy fully loaded car at a very dirt cheap price.
Someone please correct me if i’m wrong , 530i CBU don’t have HUD right , so do CKD ..? Damn that old LED DRL looks ugly , i can only assume they will release M Sport trim with better specs for + RM 15k-20k…
BowArrow, yes, the 530i CBU does not have HUD. I can confirm that.
Shame on you BMW Malaysia.
You took away easily 45 K of items,
to sell the car for 45k less.
So where did the tax breaks go?
We Bimmer fans are deeply disappointed.
They also takes out the auto start & stop system. Shame on u BMW Malaysia, i hope they add 360 camera too!
BMW Malaysia got way too greedy with this model. Probably owing to the success of the 330e, they thought they could toss out a bunch of features and people would buy it because it’s merely cheaper. How stupid do you have to be to not realize that people buying E-segment cars are neither starved for options nor swayed by fake value.
Adaptive cruise control and 360 parking cameras are well on their way to being standard kit, but BMW Malaysia wants to drag its brand and model offerings back in time to eke out a measly profit. I hope Volvo picks up every last Bimmer fan disgusted by this corner-cutting nonsense.
Spot on, Andrew.
Malaysian consumers getting treated like muppets, yet again.
It’s not just BMW, many companies are up to the same nonsense. Who is it that decides that the majority of the world market can receive full spec vehicles but Malaysians don’t? It’s not as if we are receiving the cars at a discounted price, quite the opposite, actually !!
Perhaps we need to start a campaign and voice our thoughts to let them know we are not going to put up with this any longer.
Surely there are many people that are as frustrated and annoyed as me……right?
The civic type R sells for 320k and does 5.7 sec 0-100. I would categorize anyone who buys that over this 5 series as pretty insane…
you must be insane to compare the 2. someone who can buy the type R for weekend car probably already owns a 5 series or equivalent.
Just curious guys, how is the horsepower of a car calculated when it is combined with an electric motor and engine horsepower combined output
E.g BMW 530E 184 Hp and 320 Nm of Torque and
113 hp from its electric motor with a maximum torque of 250Nm how does it add up to 252 hp ?