COE premiums rise across the board

[SINGAPORE] COE premiums have risen across the board as dealers rushed to secure certificates of entitlement following good orders for new models and the realisation that the new quota for cars is not as generous as first thought.

Category A - for cars below 1,600cc and 130 hp - climbed S$1,710 to S$64,600, and Cat B - for cars above 1,600cc or 130 hp - jumped S$3,688 to S$68,689.

Cat E - the open category that currently tracks Cat B - spiked S$3,999 to S$69,001.

Meanwhile, Cat C - for goods vehicles - was S$1,999 higher at S$54,009, while Cat D - for motorcycles - inched up S$101 to S$4,353.

Yesterday's COE bidding exercise was the first for the new August-October quota. It is 6 per cent smaller than the previous May-July quota, with 11,331 COEs, or 729 pieces fewer.

Nevertheless, there is a 13.1 per cent increase in Cat A COEs to 1,143 a monthly, and a 4.6 per cent hike in Cat B COEs to 1,010 a month. However, Cat E is 18.4 per cent down at 478 COEs a month. So is Cat C, diving 33.1 per cent to 515 per month, and Cat D, contracting 8 per cent to 631 monthly.

The managing director of a luxury dealership says that although there are more Cat A and Cat B COEs, there is concern that the reduction in Cat E would have an impact. Hence, the strong bids.

"We realised that the new quota is not so big after all, so we had better bid for as many COEs as possible to clear any Cat A backlog before prices go even higher," he says.

As for Cat B, the strong interest in the new Mercedes-Benz C-Class compact sedan and Porsche Macan compact SUV are said to have pushed up the premium. It is understood that there are about 400 orders for the baby Benz and 250-300 for the baby Porsche.

The managing director believes that there will be more upward pressure ahead, especially for Cat B.

"The situation may change yet, but as things stand, Cat B could go up by another $3,000 in two weeks' time."

Analyse historical COE data with the Business Times' interactive tool at http://btd.sg/coetrack