The price of the brand new BEV flagship SUV iX of BMW in Taiwan was officially announced today. As a leading EU luxury brand, the Taiwanese authorized retailer also revealed that 150 orders were obtained prior to the announcement of the prices, with less than half of the quota remaining for the first batch.
Pan German Universal Motors, the officially authorized local retailer of BMW in Taiwan, officially announced the prices of the new iX today.
BMW iX xDrive40 and iX xDrive50 are respectively priced at NT$3.16 million and NT$3.86 million. These prices are relatively competitive since they are both cheaper than the best-selling EV SUV Model X in Taiwan, which is a good news for BMW fanatics.
Brand loyalty was fully exhibited from the pre-order event. Although no prices were announced, Pan German Universal Motors had sold more than half of the anticipated 300 units of BMW iX, and a lot of buyers had put down a deposit through the phone without a test drive or knowing the prices.
For BMW owners, it is often disappointing when test driving EVs of other brands since the meticulousness of the interior, as well as the craftsmanship in manufacturing, would affect the trustworthiness of the consumers. A lot of BMW owners wish to change to EVs, yet they are still upholding a wait-and-see attitude.
At the same time, the pricing of iX also struck the weak spots of other luxury auto brands, since the lowest prices of both Benz EQC and Audi e-tron exceed that of BMW iX, though the latter is a fresh BEV creation, which offers a more ferocious market competitiveness for the model under similar pricing.
Let’s not forget that the mindset of a driver is also different when transitioning from traditional fossil fuel vehicles to EVs, especially with how the consideration placed on the driving range and charging convenience often surpasses the requirements on the quality of the vehicle, for which Tesla still remains as the leader among all auto manufacturers.
BMW expects to establish 14 fast charging stations in Taiwan, which are most likely to be located at the service centers of various cities and counties. Judging by this arrangement alone, the convenience is far behind that of Tesla’s Superchargers.
Although the lowest price of iX xDrive40 is still cheaper than Model X, an actual comparison shows that Model X excels in both driving range and performance, though the integration between BMW and iPhone, as well as the new iDrive8 interface, may provide a better user experience over Tesla. The final decisive factor may just be the logo itself.
(Cover photo source: BMW)
