CERTIFICATE of Entitlement (COE) prices for July’s first round of bidding saw minor decreases except in the mainstream car category, which rose slightly.

The price for Category A rose 0.8 per cent or S$794 to S$97,000.

The Category A COE is for mainstream cars with engines up to 1,600 cc in capacity and with under 97 kilowatts (kW), or for electric vehicles (EVs) with less than 110 kW.

Prices for Category B fell 2.5 per cent or S$2,998 to S$118,002, after hitting an all-time high in June’s second round of bidding, at S$121,000. Category B is the category for cars with engines of more than 1,600 cc in capacity or with more than 97 kW, or for EVs with more than 110 kW.

Prices for Category C, applicable to commercial vehicles and buses, fell 1.1 per cent or S$917 to S$82,223.

Prices for Category D, used for motorcycles, went down 5.8 per cent, or S$619, to S$10,090.

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Category E, the open category which can be used to register any type of motor vehicle except for motorcycles, dipped 1.6 per cent or S$2,000 to S$121,000.

Industry experts The Business Times (BT) spoke to said that demand for mainstream cars is soft but stable, and that relatively small COE quotas mean more price fluctuations.

Retail sales for mainstream passenger cars is weak, said Nicholas Wong, the general manager for authorised Honda dealer Kah Motor; he said that he had expected Category A to fall this round.

However, “at least 60 bids” were submitted in the closing moments of bidding, pushing the price up.

Wong attributed this late surge in bids to fleet or business owners.

Observers also noted that there was an easing of price pressure in the COEs used for the registration of premium or luxury cars, Category B and Category E, with a major dealership group closing its financial year.

Unlike Category A and B COEs, Category E COEs have a validity of three months and do not need to be immediately used to register a car. This means car dealers keep them on hand to immediately register a car for customers who are willing to pay for the privilege.

Major dealership group Sime Darby Motors closed its financial year in June and pushed for more sales in that period, a senior manager for a multi-brand dealership told BT.

It holds dealerships for BYD, BMW, Ford and Peugeot in Singapore, with most of its sales coming from BMW. BMW is currently the second best-selling car brand in Singapore, and its model range consists mostly of Category B cars.

“It’s not a surprise that Category B has dropped, because it has been sky-high recently,” said Sabrina Sng, managing director for Polestar, Lotus and Insurance at dealership group Wearnes Automotive.

She added that the Category B quota size was small enough that even “a little demand” was enough to mean an increase in the premium, and that it was difficult to predict price movements in such a constrained market.

Category B’s quota for this round of bidding was 471, a 44 per cent drop from 840 in July 2021, when the Category B price was S$56,100 – less than half its latest price.