COE prices for cars rebound; Open category, commercial vehicle premiums down

Certificate of entitlement (COE) prices ended mixed at the close of the latest tender exercise on June 20, with the premiums for cars inching back upwards, after falling in the previous round.

The COE price for smaller, less powerful cars and electric vehicles (EVs) in Category A rose by the biggest margin, ending at $90,889.

This is a 3 per cent increase from $88,200 at the previous tender on June 5.

The premium for COEs in Category B, meant for larger, more powerful cars and EVs, also climbed to $102,334 – a 1.7 per cent increase from $100,607 two weeks ago.

Meanwhile, motorcycle COE prices (Category D) ticked upwards by $13, ending at $9,002.

For the Open category COE (Category E), which can be used to register any vehicle type other than motorcycles but is almost always used for bigger, more powerful cars, the premium fell to $100,000 – a 1.6 per cent dip from $101,600 before.

Commercial vehicle COE premiums (Category C) also ended lower, closing at $69,900, compared with $70,589 previously.

In all, 3,661 bids were received at the latest tender, with a quota of 2,551 COEs available.

COEs give people the right to own and use a vehicle in Singapore.

Motor dealers said the rebound in premiums for the two car categories is not surprising, given the fall in prices in the earlier round.

At the June 5 tender, premiums for both categories posted drops of about 5 per cent each.

“We did hear in the market that in the last two weeks, sales were a little bit better,” said Ms Sabrina Sng, managing director overseeing insurance, sports carmaker Lotus and EV brand Polestar at dealership group Wearnes Automotive.

“Our view is that there’s a lot of pent-up demand. There are a lot of customers waiting to come in to buy when the price is right.”

Mr Ron Lim, head of sales at Nissan agent Tan Chong Motor, noted that the Category A premium went up this round, even though there were fewer bids than two weeks ago.

He said this segment of passenger cars is getting overcrowded, with more and more EVs being detuned so they have a lower power output and can qualify under the cheaper Category A.

“This is definitely not healthy for the segment in the long run... As the EV war intensifies, we could see more volatility in Category A,” Mr Lim added.

The dip in the price of Open category COEs also stood out to some dealers.

Mr Nicholas Wong, chief executive of authorised Honda dealer Kah Motor, said the lack of activity in the category until the last five minutes of bidding indicated low interest.

Ms Sng said it could be that businesses had already stocked up on Open category certificates from previous rounds, noting that the Open category price has softened in the last two tenders.

“It shows that the COE price is stabilising at this $100,000 level, which is what we all want, for there to be some stability,” she added.