Management at a leading multinational automotive retail and services firm have announced that German automaker BMW intends to lead the charge in relation to the ‘electrification' of cars in Latin America. Marco Garcia, Managing Director of Inchcape Chile made the announcement and outlined the vision of some of the other high-profile brands - his organization represent in South America
Garcia previously served as Director of Sales for Latin America BMW, so he is exceptionally placed to discuss and explore the impact BMW's introduction of its electric models will have in South America. He stressed that outside of Mexico, Brazil and Argentina, Chile is the No.1 market with number similar to Columbia. He also disclosed that Chilean consumers have a strong passion for the BMW brand - and its loves of luxury means it's a great time to introduce electric vehicles to the market. He also refused to be drawn on the claim the Chilean auto sector was a complex market.
Garcia said: "I wouldn't talk about complexity, it is an interesting and powerful market, in fact, until recently, it was a bigger market than Argentina, due to different situations. I would say perhaps it is complex, but maybe competitive is a better choice of word. In Chile we have most of the luxury brands and the portfolio diversification is interesting. What I have seen in Chile is that it is characterized by having enough personality in what is taste. For BMW and as a group Inchcape is a mature and good market."
In relation to the proposed electrification of BMW models in Chile - Garcia claimed that the global leader has been pioneering in the country for a significant period of time, and is confident the introduction of the models will be successful for the organization.
He said: "We have been pioneering in Chile by bringing the sub-brand i and its electric models into play. We have also been gaining experience and have contributed to the expansion of sales of electrical products - and we continue to work together with the factory in order to expand. In addition to this, one of the decisions we've made is that we're going to bring the plugins hybrids- they should be ready for market by August or September. In terms of long-term strategy, we're still betting on sustainable development and electric mobility."