SINGAPORE - Motorcycles led the charge as certificate of entitlement (COE) premiums went up in all categories in the latest tender on Wednesday.

COE prices for motorcycles shot up to a new high again, hitting $12,801, almost three times the cost of an entry-level motorcycle.

For cars with engines up to 1,600cc and below 130bhp, as well as fully electric vehicles (EVs) with up to 110 kilowatts of power, the COE price is $81,089, up 0.7 per cent from $80,501.

In the category for more powerful cars and EVs, the COE price ended at $110,000, up 14.8 per cent from $95,856.

The motorcycle COE premium record of $12,801 was 8.9 per cent higher than the record of $11,751 set in the last tender.

Commercial vehicle COE prices also went up by 6.4 per cent, from $65,991 to $70,201.

Open category COEs, which can be used to register any type of vehicle other than motorcycles, ended at $108,003, up 2.9 per cent from $105,001.

The rebound on Wednesday follows two tender exercises where the COE premiums for most categories fell.

This is the last tender exercise before the supply of COE will be cut by 13.8 per cent.

Dealers have said that the persistently high premiums seen in the motorcycle category reflect how low the supply of COEs is.

In March, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) raised the bidding deposit for motorcycle COEs from $200 to $800 and halved the validity period of secured COEs to three months. The changes have made it more costly for dealers to let secured COEs expire - after they have driven up premiums with their bids.

Given that the changes have been in place for some time now, Mr Fude Poh, general manager of S.1 Motoring, a large motorcycle retailer group, said that LTA would know if there has been any such wastage of COEs.

He said: “If there is no proof of bidders playing with the process and all the COEs are used, then it would also show that the COE supply is just not enough for the market.”

But other motorcycle dealers have said that the forfeiture of the $800 deposit for motorcycle COEs is not as strong a deterrent as that for car COEs, which require a bidding deposit of $10,000.

Motor dealers had expected the premiums for the two types of COEs for cars as well as the Open category to bounce back after the dips seen at the last two tender exercises. LTA’s announcement last Friday of the reduction in COE quota for the November 2022 to January 2023 quarter had prompted more buyers to head to the showrooms over the past weekend in a bid to net a good deal as they expect COE prices to go up further.

Mass-market and premium brands alike have dangled special discounts in their showrooms and roadshows and they seem to have worked. Nissan, for example, said sales have gone up by more than 30 per cent since the last tender exercise.

Wednesday’s tender results suggest that sales efforts have been more effective in tempting buyers of the bigger and more powerful cars and EVs than those in the market for cars in the lower category. While the COE price for the smaller and less powerful cars and EVs ended $588 above the previous premium, the COE price for the larger cars and EVs went up by $14,144, more than the $12,195 drop registered at the previous tender exercise.

Mr Ron Lim, head of sales at Tan Chong Motor, said the overall market for the smaller and less powerful cars is still weak. However, he expects premiums to remain high in the coming rounds because of the lower quota that applies from the next tender exercise.

More bids were received for larger and more powerful cars and EVs than before. There were 385 unsuccessful bids, compared to the usual figure of between 100 and 200 seen in earlier exercises. As the supply for such COEs is 13 per cent lower in the November 2022 to January 2023 period, Mr Lim expects that it will take “at least two tender exercises” for this backlog to be fulfilled.

The next tender exercise is three weeks away, which is one more week than the norm. Dealers have said that the longer gap between tenders give them time to collect more orders. In this case, car dealers may need the extra time to find enough buyers willing to put up with the high COE premiums.