Two weeks ago, Mercedes-Benz Malaysia launched the new 2021 Mercedes-Benz E-Class facelift (W213) in Malaysia. Two variants are offered, the E200 Avantgarde and E300 AMG Line, priced at RM 326,943 and RM 375,432 respectively (valid until 31-December 2021).

That’s quite a reduction in variant count. The previous E350 AMG Line has been dropped, and if you go further back, we also had the E350e plug-in hybrid too, which at its peak in 2017 and 2018, was offered in two trim levels – Exclusive Line and AMG Line.

At a virtual meeting with the Malaysian press earlier today, Mercedes-Benz Malaysia’s Vice-President Michael Jopp explained the E200 and E300, for a price-value perspective, provides the best overall for customers, and that’s the goal of this two variant-only approach.

“For E350, whether we go for the E350 (or even the E350e) at a later point in time is actually not even decided at this moment,” said Jopp.

“The reception that we got so far confirmed that this was the right decision,” he added.

Specific to the E350e (which has been redesignated as the E300e for the facelift model), Mercedes-Benz Malaysia have elected to not introduce it yet due to uncertainties related to incentives for locally-assembled hybrid vehicles, stressing that if the company were to go with the E300e, the model won’t be able to match the overall package offered by the E200 and E300 combo.

“We are always evaluating. Globally we have an ever-evolving portfolio of plug-in hybrids available. When it comes to whether we offer locally or not, it’s ultimately a question of what is the additional cost, because as you know, the plug-in hybrid, from a technology perspective is obviously more complex and more expensive, versus what is the level of incentive that is being granted by the government. So far for the E-Class, we find offering the E200 and E300 to be more attractive compared to the plug-in hybrids that would’ve been available.

“That’s why we have decided to launch these two variants only,” he added, before confirming that there are no plans to launch a new E350e (E300e) in Malaysia.

Also read: Mercedes: Not too late for Malaysia to catch up on EVs but transparent policies needed

As for customers who have previously bought an E350e, and whether would they demand for a plug-in hybrid, Jopp said ultimately the customer is looking for the best overall package, a good deal, so to speak.

“Honestly I am not so sure if they are really looking into whether it’s a plug-in hybrid or a regular combustion engine. It’s the overall package,” said Jopp, who conceded that although there will certainly be some amount of requests for plug-in hybrids, but Jopp stressed that looking at the current situation, it would not be possible to introduce a competitively-priced package with the E300e.

“I can confirm going forward that you will see plug-in hybrids from Mercedes-Benz. It’s part of our global strategy, and so we will also continue to introduce plug-in hybrid variants whenever it makes sense. There will be some plug-in hybrid variants coming in the future,” he said.

The most important keyword here is of course, ‘whenever it makes sense.’ In other words, looking at Malaysia’s high excise tax structure for cars, cheap subsidized fuel, and non-existent carbon tax, it makes little sense to introduce a more expensive but lower emissions and lower fuel consumption plug-in hybrid model.

And this last bit, is why addiction to cheap fuel, like our local industries’ addiction to cheap foreign labour, will always hold back Malaysia’s progress, because consumers and industries alike see no monetary benefit in investing into higher cost but cleaner, more efficient technology.

Also read: Want cheaper cars in Malaysia? Best solution is to pay higher fuel prices

Up north, Mercedes-Benz Thailand sells 5 plug-in hybrid models, including a diesel-electric GLE 350 de. Including the various trims, there are actually 9 plug-in hybrid Mercedes-Benz models offered there!

It's not difficult to understand why. Thailand's excise duty of passenger cars ranges from 25 to 50 percent, as opposed to Malaysia's 65 to 105 percent. Hybrids however, are given discounts depending on their CO2 emissions - dropping to as low as 4 percent (100 g/km of CO2 or less), to just 13 percent (exceed 200 g/km, with engine capacity below 3.0-litre).

Meanwhile, Thailand's petrol costs about RM 4 per litre. So there are obvious benefits to hybrid users.

The government also offers various incentives for vehicle electrification projects, enough for Daimler to invest RM 497 million into building an xEV battery plant there, one of 7 in the world for Daimler.

On Malaysia's two variants-only E-Class range, we should also point out that BMW Malaysia, has also trimmed its G30 5 Series facelift’s range to just two - 530e M Sport (RM 323,980) and 530i M Sport (RM 378,980). The BMW 520i is now no more.

Given our relatively small 600,000 units per year car market, less is more, as an unnecessarily wide range makes often makes it difficult for the national sales office to provide an accurate volume project, which is very crucial for locally-assembled cars.

Also, providing more options to customers don’t necessarily equate to more sales. Quite the contrary, it only makes the shopping process (and the job of selling, for the sales advisor) more complicated.

Then again, BMW offers 5 variants of the 3 Series! Including the long wheelbase 330 Li, but that’s another topic altogether.