Visitors throng Cars@Expo for deals

When 39-year-old Alphonsus Tan and his wife welcomed their third child earlier this year, they decided it was time to swop their Toyota Corolla for a bigger family car.

Mr Tan, who is self-employed, seized the chance to look at the many options on offer at the Cars@Expo 2022 show yesterday, the first day of the event.

The two-day show is being held at Singapore Expo halls 3B and 4 from 10am to 8pm.

Cars@Expo, usually an annual affair, returned after a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic. It marks the resumption of large-scale, in-person motoring events and is the largest car exhibition in Singapore since the Government eased safe distancing measures.

The last show was held on Oct 5 and 6, 2019. The organisers expect 80,000 visitors in total this year.

Said Mr Tan: "This event is very timely. I have been looking for a family car, like a sport utility vehicle (SUV), but I have not had the time to go around to the different showrooms. I'm not going to purchase (a car) today, but I have been to a few booths... and have a better idea of what I want."

Organised by SPH Media, Cars@Expo, which is free to visitors, features 150 new and pre-owned cars and 29 exhibitors from 36 brands, including Audi, BMW, Seat, Honda, Kia, Jaguar, Lexus, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo.

Many visitors arrived early to snag attractive deals for cars, motoring accessories and giveaways. More than $35,000 worth of freebies are up for grabs on each day of the event. Yesterday, freebies reserved for the first 1,000 visitors were snapped up by 11am, said the organisers.

For the first time, exhibitors include fully electric vehicle makers, such as Swedish brand Polestar, British brand MG and Chinese brand BYD, the world's largest EV manufacturer.

Visitors were not the only ones who welcomed the return of the exhibition. Retailers too were pleased to take part in a physical fair.

Mr Theophane Chan, a sales manager at Performance Motors, an official dealership for BMW, said it was a good feeling to be back at a car expo.

He said: "Over the last two years, we had to promote (the cars) through digital avenues or do road shows at shopping malls. But in the malls, the people are not there to look for a car, whereas here, the likelihood is that they are here because they are looking to buy a car."

The buzz at Cars@Expo did not surprise some retailers even amid high certificate of entitlement (COE) premiums.

The premium for the Open category COE, which tends to be used for larger cars, set new highs twice in a row last month. At the last tender, on Aug 3, it ended at $113,000.

Owing to the high price of new cars, pre-owned ones are in favour, said Mr Alan Ng, a sales manager at used-car dealer Cosmo Automobiles. By 2pm yesterday, his company had sold at least 10 cars.

Mr Ng said: "Despite rising COE prices, when you need a car, you will still buy it. So the best option in the current market is a used car."

But Mr Chan said sellers of new cars do benefit from taking part in car shows, as exhibitors can give prospective customers value for their money - for example, they can help customers to deal with higher prices by using options like leasing packages.

For frequent car show visitors such as Mr Hairil Ali, 42, who is looking to replace his eight-seater Toyota Estima Aeras, being at such events is thrilling.

The civil servant, who was at Cars@Expo in 2019, said: "COE prices are not going down any time soon, so I might as well look at selling my car while I still can and see what the newer options are in the market."