COE premiums up in all categories except motorcycles; Cat A price climbs 2.5% to $104,524
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It is the fourth consecutive exercise where the Category A COE price has breached the $100,000 mark.
ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN
Follow topic:
- Singapore COE premiums rise again, with Category A reaching $104,524, the highest since October 2023, driven by new car launches.
- Category B COEs increased to $124,400 and Open Category (E) rose to $125,001, with dealers needing COEs to meet targets.
- Increased bidding and expiring COEs contribute to rising prices, with dealers expecting further increases towards end-2025.
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SINGAPORE – Certificate of entitlement (COE) premiums rose in all categories except motorcycles, with the price of a certificate for smaller, less powerful cars and electric vehicles reaching $104,524 on Aug 20.
The premium for a Category A COE – meant for smaller and less powerful cars and electric vehicles (EVs) – climbed 2.5 per cent to $104,524, from $102,009 at the previous exercise
This is the highest Category A premium since the second tender of October 2023, when it was $106,000
A Category B COE, meant for larger and more powerful cars and EVs, came in at $124,400 on Aug 20, increasing 0.7 per cent from $123,498.
The price for an Open category (Category E) COE rose to $125,001 – 2.2 per cent higher than the $122,334 at the previous exercise.
Open category certificates can be used for any vehicle type other than motorcycles, but are almost always used for bigger and more powerful cars.
A COE is needed to register a vehicle in Singapore and is usually included in the vehicle price.
In all, 4,760 bids were received at the latest exercise – 6.3 per cent more than the 4,480 bids in the previous tender.
In Category A, there were 665 unsuccessful bids, up from 498 bids before. And in Category B, 432 bids were unsuccessful, down from 482.
The overall increase in bids surprised some dealers because showrooms have been quieter after the previous exercise, when the Category B COE premium hit its highest since December 2023.
Mr Nicholas Wong, chief executive of Honda agent Kah Motor, said buyers may have “given up the idea” of COE premiums easing, after prices rose following the Land Transport Authority’s announcement in late July about the number of certificates available for bidding in the August to October period.
There will be 2.6 per cent more certificates
As premiums for Categories A and B remain high, Mr Wong said some dealers would be increasingly driven to secure the COEs they need to deliver cars sold earlier, and this may continue to drive up COE prices in the process.
Ms Corinne Chua, managing director of Swedish brand Volvo at distributor Wearnes Automotive, noted that the launch of small car models in recent weeks likely contributed to the higher Category A premium.
This comes as more owners are seeking replacements for their ageing cars with COEs due to expire soon.
As for the rise in the Open category COE price, Mr Chong Kah Wei, managing director of Trans Eurokars, which distributes Japanese brand Mazda, said some of the demand may have come from dealers who need them to register cars to meet their monthly targets.
Open category COEs are transferrable and can be held for up to three months.
Mr Raymond Ng, managing director of Eurokars EV, the distributor of Chinese car brand MG, expects prices for both car COE categories to continue climbing in the remaining months of 2025 as dealers race to meet their year-end targets.
At the Aug 20 exercise, the commercial vehicle (Category C) COE price went up 3.1 per cent, from $70,001 to $72,190.
The price of a motorcycle (Category D) COE bucked the trend, falling 4.1 per cent from $9,189 to $8,809.
