This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on October 12, 2015.

KUALA LUMPUR: As businesses feel the heat of a weakening ringgit, BMW Malaysia Sdn Bhd (BMW Group Malaysia) said it will hold off on any increase in the prices of its cars until the local currency breaches the 5 level against the euro.

The ringgit closed at 4.6753 to the euro last Friday, which BMW Group Malaysia managing director and chief executive officer Alan Harris deemed as “still manageable”.

Harris said all of the group’s costs are denominated in euros and it has so far been able to absorb the rising costs. However, he warned that BMW Group Malaysia may have to increase prices in the event that the ringgit breaches the 5 level against the euro and stays there for a prolonged period of time,  he told reporters after unveiling the second generation of its premium compact sports activity vehicle, the all-new BMW X1 sDrive 20i here last Friday.

Harris said the group is optimistic about last year’s record sales of 9,046 vehicles this year, driven by various products and the newly-launched BMW X1 sDrive 20i.

This is despite it witnessing a marginal 1.01% drop to 6,522 vehicles for the January-September 2015 period from 6,589 units a year ago.

“Our strategy is to maintain our position as the premium car maker. But we will provide other value-added services to our customers and this will be our principal value in business,” said Harris.

Earlier, Harris said the all-new BMW X1 is the first BMW X model to be created on the new, efficiency-optimised front-wheel drive platform from the BMW xDrive intelligent all-wheel-drive system.

The retail price on the road (excluding insurance) of the BMW X1 is RM279,800.