COE prices close higher across all five categories
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The premium for cars above 1,600cc or 130bhp closed at $47,001, up from $45,001.
PHOTO: ST FILE
Toh Ting Wei
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SINGAPORE - Certificate of entitlement (COE) prices ended higher across all categories in the latest tender on Wednesday (March 17).
The COE price for cars up to 1,600cc and 130bhp finished at $44,589, up from $41,996.
The premium for cars above 1,600cc or 130bhp closed at $47,001, up from $45,001.
The price for Open COEs, which can be used for any vehicle type except motorcycles but ends up mostly for bigger cars, came in at $47,806, up from $47,001.
Commercial vehicle COE price bounced higher to $39,589 after dropping more than $3,000 to $37,513 in the previous cycle.
The motorcycle premium finished at $7,791, up slightly from $7,752.
The various vehicle categories, except motorcycles, had a smaller supply of certificates in the current quota period of February-April.
Mr Eddie Loo, managing director of CarTimes Group and president of the Singapore Vehicle Traders Association, said the rise in the prices across the board was expected given that the next COE bidding cycle is three weeks away.
Mr Nicholas Wong, general manager of Honda agent Kah Motor, noted that prices were still quite stable, and that there was stronger demand in the market.
"Customers seems to be more willing to make purchases now with the Covid-19 vaccine being administered," he added.
Mr Ron Lim, head of sales and marketing at Nissan agent Tan Chong Motor noted that the rebound in the COE price for commercial vehicles was likely due to aggressive bidding by dealers who still had light diesel commercial vehicles.
These dealers had put in a last ditch effort to reduce their stocks before a $10,000 penalty under the new Commercial Vehicle Emissions Scheme kicks in next month, said Mr Lim.
Meanwhile, Yong Lee Seng Motor managing director Raymond Tang said that he was surprised by the scale of the rise in Category A COE prices, which could be due to new vehicle launches.
He said: "I think COE prices will keep increasing in the coming cycles. The prices are still far away from the levels 10 years ago, so there is still a lot of room to go up."
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