http://news.omy.sg/News/Local-News/Fastcar-ownership-revs-up-in-last-decade-201779#prettyPhoto
SAMANTHA BOH
THE ownership of fast cars here has shot up over the past 10
years, with numbers surging higher than ever before in Singapore's
history.
But, while supercar numbers
have risen in tandem with the country's total car population,
recent industry-cooling measures appear to be putting the brakes on
their sales.
Last year, Singapore's car population hit
620,011, a 53 per cent increase from a decade
ago.
Meanwhile, the Land Transport
Authority (LTA) had on its records 4,815 Porsches, Ferraris,
Maseratis, Lamborghinis and Aston Martins last year. This is up
from 4,151 in 2011 and just 777 in 2002.
There were also new supercar
brands to the Singapore market, such as McLaren, which made its
entrance here in late 2011 with 33 cars registered in its first
year.
A McLaren 12C Spider sells for
about $1.2 million and a Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 for about
$1.6 million, without certificates of entitlement.
Car dealers My Paper spoke to
pointed to a new trend among their clientele: young and wealthy
female drivers.
EuroSports Auto, which imports
supercars like Lamborghini and Pagani, said: "As Singaporeans
become affluent, more will want to invest in global premium brands
that indicate their success, and support their desire to
distinguish themselves."
But cooling measures
introduced in March have slowed down supercar sales, said car
dealers.
The Monetary Authority of
Singapore had then capped loans for new and used cars with an Open
Market Value (OMV) of up to $20,000 at 60 per cent of their
purchase price.
Those with higher OMVs could
qualify for loans of no more than 50 per cent of the purchase
price. The maximum tenure for a car loan was also limited to five
years, from 10 years previously.
This was followed by raises in
car-loan interest rates to 2.68 per cent per annum from 1.88 per
cent by banks.
For example, in June and July,
just two Lamborghinis were registered with the LTA, a decline from
the five in May and four in April.
EuroSports Auto told My Paper
that it is likely that customers will now "think twice" before
making a commitment to buy a supercar.
Similar declines were also
seen in the sale of Ferraris and Porsches.
Not a single Ferrari was
registered in July, a fall from the 25 registered in May and three
in June, while the number of Porsches registered fell from 33 in
June to 26 in July.
Ferrari's distributor, Ital
Auto, said: "The measures have already had a dampening effect on
car sales in general, but we will probably need a few more months
to see how persistent this effect will be."
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