BMW Group Malaysia’s NEXTStep Subsidy Programme makes child car seats more affordable.
Modern premium cars are all very safe. Customers of these cars are obviously able to also afford the child car seats necessary to keep their young children protected on the road as well. But so many Malaysian families still struggle to afford child car seats for their offspring. That is why BMW Group Malaysia are stepping in with their NEXTStep Subsidy Programme. This was first introduced in May of this year as part of the BMW Safety 360° initiative.
The programme allows families with a monthly household income of under RM3,500 to apply for a fully-subsidised child car seat. The car seats work for children below 36kg and there’s a whole range of child car seats available namely:
- snskidz Ace (infant carrier)
- snskidz sport (convertible seat)
- snskidz Whizz (ISOFIX seat)
- snskidz Proto (combination booster seat)
- Mifold (booster seat)
To date, BMW Group Malaysia has delivered 400 of these fully-subsidised child car seats to underprivileged Malaysian families.
PRESS RELEASE
The NEXTStep Subsidy Programme was introduced in May 2022, as part of the ongoing BMW Safety 360° initiative, which aims to promote road safety for children by making child car seats more accessible to lower income households. A total of 90 child car seats were fully subsidised for families in the B40 community with funds raised by BMW Group Financial Services Malaysia last year.
Expecting parents and families with children weighing up to 36kg, and with a monthly household
income below RM 3,500, were eligible to apply for a fully subsidised child car seat under the
NEXTStep Subsidy Programme. Over 900 registrations were received throughout the application
period, affirming the need for greater accessibility to child car seats amongst lower income families.
The NEXTStep Subsidy Programme concluded with a special handover event organised in
collaboration with Safe ‘n Sound to present the fully subsidised child car seats to selected parents in
the Klang Valley. The event served to provide the recipients with knowledge on how to install and
use their new child car seats effectively. A live demonstration was conducted by a team of Child
Occupant Safety Instructors (COSI) from Safe ‘n Sound. A total of 12 child car seats were presented
during the event, with the remainder delivered to parents that resided within and outside of the
Klang Valley.
The fully subsidised child car seats provided to families, as part of the NEXTStep Subsidy Programme, include models such as the snskidz Ace (infant carrier) snskidz sport (convertible seat), snskidz Whizz (ISOFIX seat), snskidz Proto (combination booster seat) and Mifold (booster seat), which would normally retail at RM 199, RM279, RM 499, RM 399, and RM199 respectively. BMW Group Malaysia initiated the first subsidy programme as part of the BMW Safety 360° initiative in 2019 to an overwhelming response of over 25,000 applicants. To date, more than 400 families have received subsidised child car seats, including recipients of the NEXTStep Subsidy Programme.
