Channel NewsAsia - Thursday, February
21
SINGAPORE: The Certificate of Entitlement (COE) prices for cars
rose across the board in the latest open bidding exercise, which
ended on Wednesday.
The COE for cars up to 1,600cc went up by S$854 to S$12,856. For
big cars (more than 1,600cc), the COE price was S$2,301 higher at
S$15,510, while that for the open category rose by S$1,809 to
S$15,110.
Meanwhile, COE prices for goods vehicles and buses rose by
S$2,001 to S$15,002. The COE price for motorcycles, however, went
down by S$48 to S$951.
Although the COE price movements were significant, industry
players predicted even tougher times ahead with higher COEs and car
prices.
Sales of Subaru cars have increased from about 100 in the
previous COE bidding round to about 150 in the latest round.
Customers were convinced to buy smaller cars ahead of an
anticipated rise in COE prices next month because of a possible
rush to benefit from a 10 per cent cut in the Additional
Registration Fee in March.
Dealers said the review in April will see fewer COEs offered and
with the cut in the number of COEs next May, the outlook is not so
rosy.
Glenn Tan, group chief executive of Motor Image Enterprises,
said: "Increase in sales is not going to be a continuing trend.
Increase in price is going to be a continuing trend. As the COEs
get less, the prices increase, so of course the sales will get less
because there will be less COEs."
He said the answer is to sell what is unique about the company,
rather than the price of a car.
Mr Tan said distributors are facing a shrinking market, and the
answer is to be more competitive and be very conservative about
their growth estimates.
He added that the market is going to be extra competitive
because distributors are now competing on a different playing field
with the parallel importers. — CNA/ac