The gap between full-electric vehicles (BEVs) and the status quo can best be bridged by hybrid vehicles, and its important that suitable efforts be done to support it, postulates Mercedes-Benz Malaysia (MBM)'s General Manager of Pricing and Product Management, Christian Grimberg.

When asked about MBM's opinions on the position of hybrid vehicles in Malaysia, Grimberg said, “I do believe that PHEVs [plug-in hybrid vehicles] are a perfect bridging solution for customers that want to enjoy the benefits of electric mobility, like electric dynamics, but on the other hand don’t want to give up on the peace of mind on long distance travels," he said.

"So in my point of view, and the view of the company to a certain extent because if you look at our European portfolio, we offer PHEVs with very substantial range (100 km plus) in the newest generations of cars, like the W206 C-Class, E-Class, and we already have an S-Class with 100 km of electric range in Malaysia."

However, Grimberg notes that pricing is a vital consideration, and having incentives and tax rebates would be helpful to the cause.

"The offering in Malaysia always depends on whether you can price the cars in a segment, because the PHEV technology is a little costlier than ICE [internal combustion engine] technology, so it depends also a little bit on the taxation and incentive that you get to price them in a range that they’re not entirely off [competitors], " he explained.

“Yes of course, we are looking into this and whenever we can price a car and bring a car that has substantial product value and successfully sell it, I believe it could be a way in the future to bring in more plug-in hybrids,” Grimberg explained. 

That last point could serve as further clues to the C350e PHEV's proposed arrival into Malaysia, as hinted by dealers earlier this year.

Also read: W206 2023 Mercedes-Benz C300 to be discontinued in Malaysia, replaced by C350e PHEV

Malayia hasn't had incentives for hybrid cars since tax exemptions for both CBU and CKD hybrids were discontinued in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Prices for such electrified cars then shot up from then on, leading to a span without new hybrids in the market.

That said, there has been discussions between the government and manufacturers about reviving such incentives, though nothing has been formally announced just yet.

Since then, there has been tax exemptions and incentives for electric vehicles (EVs), which has unsurprisingly seen an uptick of offerings (Mercedes-Benz alone has 6) and adoption among customers. Still, for cumulative carbon reduction to make a bigger impact in our market, adopting more than one method proves more effective, as examples elsewhere has shown.

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