KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 12 — Sime Darby Bhd, a key distributor for BMW in China, expects the country’s auto market to deteriorate further before any recovery takes hold.
Chief executive officer Datuk Jeffri Salim Davidson said the group anticipates one to two years of hardship but remains confident that sales of the German marque will eventually rebound, Bloomberg reported.
BMW deliveries in China plunged 14 per cent in the second quarter, weighed down by an ongoing price war and intense rivalry across the world’s largest car market.
To streamline operations, Sime Darby shut about 15 non-BMW outlets and removed eight brands from its showrooms, while retaining Volvo, Genesis and Kia as part of its line-up.
High-end names such as Lamborghini and Tesla, once listed on its website, are no longer part of its China portfolio.
Losses from Sime Darby’s dealership and after-sales business across China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan widened to RM140 million in the financial year ended June 30, 2025, up from RM123 million the year before.
Despite the financial hit, the Malaysian conglomerate will continue to operate 22 BMW dealerships in China while also selling the brand in markets including Indonesia, Thailand, Australia, Singapore and Malaysia.
The company’s share price suffered its steepest drop in more than a decade after weak earnings in May, though it regained ground following stronger fourth-quarter results in August, leaving the stock down 8.9 per cent year to date.
Kenanga Research analyst Wan Mustaqim Wan Ab Aziz said Beijing’s crackdown on unhealthy competition in industries such as EVs and solar panels could eventually create a more favourable environment for BMW.
In parallel, Sime Darby expects growth from its Caterpillar dealerships in Australia’s mining sector and plans to launch Perodua’s first electric vehicles in Malaysia by the end of the year, making it the country’s second national EV brand after Proton.
