Having been announced for the Malaysian market months in advance, the BMW i4 was finally opened for booking last week, priced at RM389,900 on-the-road without insurance. This figure included the full sales and service tax (SST), with the understanding at the time that deliveries would begin after the June 30 deadline for the government’s SST exemptions.
A recent perusal of the official price list, however, revealed pricing for the car with a 50% SST rebate for CBU imports. A BMW Group Malaysia spokesperson has since confirmed to us that deliveries will indeed begin before the deadline, starting in mid-May.
Pricing for the sole eDrive40 M Sport model has therefore reduced to RM364,676 with the standard two-year, unlimited-mileage warranty, or RM380,266 with the optional five-year warranty and six-year service package (an eight-year/160,000 km battery warranty comes as standard). Like for like, the i4 is RM9,534 cheaper without SST. As per the iX, the i4 gets a RM4,600 Power Package that adds a BMW i Wallbox charger (likely a 22 kW unit) and a Type 2 public charging cable.
A full spec sheet has also been distributed by dealers, revealing some additional kit for the Malaysian variant. These include Adaptive M Suspension and Variable Sport Steering (both a prerequisite for the larger M Sport brakes in other markets), galvanised silver switchgear and the IconicSounds Electric function developed in conjunction with renown composer Hans Zimmer. The i4 is also one of the few BMWs sold locally to come with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto as standard.
Otherwise, the equipment list is as listed in the press release – Laserlight headlamps, 19-inch Style 860 M two-tone alloy wheels (shown above; they are smaller than the 20-inch rollers previewed in January), blue brake callipers, keyless entry, push-button start and an external loudspeaker for alerting pedestrians.
Also fitted is rhombic aluminium interior trim, Sensatec faux leather upholstery on the dashboard and seats, power-adjustable sports seats with driver’s side memory, three-zone automatic climate control, park assist, a 360-degree camera, Qi wireless charging, a 17-speaker, 525-watt Harman Kardon sound system and a hands-free powered tailgate.
The i4 also comes with the iX’s freestanding curved display panel, incorporating a 12.3-inch digital instrument display and a 14.9-inch infotainment touchscreen. These run on the new BMW Operating System 8 with a striking user interface, a customisable instrument layout and integrated climate controls.
Safety-wise, the i4 comes with the full Driving Assistant Professional suite, including autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control with stop and go, lane centring assist, lane keeping assist, blind spot monitoring and collision prevention and rear cross traffic alert with auto brake.
To recap, the i4 is powered by a single rear motor producing 250 kW (340 PS) and 430 Nm of torque, both figures higher than that of the iX3. So equipped, it will get from zero to 100 km/h in 5.7 seconds before hitting a top speed of 190 km/h. An 83.9 kWh lithium-ion battery enables a range of 590 km on a single charge.
Like the rest of its siblings, the i4 can accept up to 11 kW of AC charging power, filling the battery in eight hours and 15 minutes. However, the i4 is able to support up to 200 kW of DC fast charging input (up from 150 kW on the iX) using the same Combined Charging System (CCS) connector, although because of the larger battery, the charge time from 10% to 80% is the same as the iX at 31 minutes.
GALLERY: 2022 BMW i4 eDrive40 M Sport previewed in Malaysia
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How to encourage people to switch to EV when the road tax cost 3.3k per year…
If you can buy a BMW but cannot afford road tax of 3k, you have a financial problem here. Not the road tax cost.
actually many cannot afford, otherwise there would be a bucketloads of bmw’s with 3.0 engines and abvoe
Cannot, and do not want to are two very different things. Do you think Elon Musk have a “financial problem” paying taxes to the government?
Well, this car isn’t in the entry to EV market segment.
This is really a 430i comparison and you already don’t get many of those in Malaysia.
BUT the EV road tax needs to be reworked ASAP. Bigger battery shouldn’t = higher road tax. Because we’re going to see Toyotas, Hyundai that will have the same battery size as an EV Porsche, Range Rover, Tesla Model S plaid etc. If you want to tax the rich then the road tax should be based on power output OR if you want to promote greener cars then it should be cheaper based on Emissions output.
road tax is currently based on motor peak kw output, not battery size kwh.
Got HUD?
Got Frunk?
Got junk?
Got Panaromic Roof?
Mid May delivery my ass
Get the author of this article to name the BMW spokesperson that said deliveries would begin mid May