Car COE prices inch higher, with Cat A premium up 3.4% to $97,724

SINGAPORE – Car prices are likely to remain high after certificate of entitlement (COE) premiums for cars ended higher at the latest tender exercise on April 9.

At $97,724, the premium for a Category A COE was 3.4 per cent higher than the $94,502 in the previous tender on March 19. This category of COEs is used to register smaller and less powerful cars and electric vehicles (EVs).

For Category B, which is meant for larger and more powerful cars and EVs, the premium was $117,899, an increase of 0.9 per cent from $116,890 recorded at

the last exercise.

The price of an Open category (Category E) COE was $117,002 – $11 more than the $116,991 in the previous bidding exercise.

Open category COEs can be used to register any vehicle type other than motorcycles, but are almost always used for bigger and more powerful cars.

At $68,782, the commercial vehicle (Category C) COE price bucked the trend, dipping 1.9 per cent from the $70,089 registered three weeks ago.

The motorcycle (Category D) COE premium came in at $9,889 – 4 per cent higher than the $9,511 set previously.

Motor dealers said that the three-week gap from the previous tender exercise – a week more than the usual two weeks – gave them more time to collect orders, resulting in higher demand for COEs.

Collectively, 3,362 bids were entered for the two car COE categories, 6.8 per cent more than the 3,147 bids received in the previous exercise.

Ms Corinne Chua, managing director of Volvo Cars at multi-brand distributor Wearnes Automotive, said that customers who had been holding back their purchases earlier in anticipation of more COEs being released by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) have been returning to the showrooms.

In January, LTA announced that the overall supply of COEs for the February to April period would be 8 per cent higher than the previous three months ending January 2025, and that up to 20,000 additional COEs would be progressively introduced across the vehicle categories over the next few years.

There were 1,511 unsuccessful bids in the two car COE categories, compared with 1,263 in the last round.

Mr Raymond Ng, managing director of distributor Eurokars EV, said that these bidders will likely return in the next tender exercise, which closes on April 23, to secure the COEs they need before The Car Expo event on May 3 and May 4.

Organised by SPH Media, which publishes The Straits Times, The Car Expo is a large-scale event that is expected to boost car sales and hence increase demand for COEs in the tender exercises that follow.

Mr Ng Choon Wee, commercial director at Komoco Motors, which distributes Hyundai, said that the number of visitors to car showrooms fell in the days after US President Donald Trump announced sweeping duties that sparked fears of a trade war and global recession.

“The near future could be tough (for motor dealers) as consumers might watch their spending,” he added.