CERTIFICATE of Entitlement (COE) premiums in February’s second round of bidding dropped for all categories except those for commercial vehicles.

The price for Category A, for mainstream cars, fell 2.8 per cent or S$2,199 to S$76,801.

A Category A COE is required to register mainstream cars that have engines of up to 1,600 cubic centimetres (cc) in capacity or with up to 97 kilowatts (kW) of power, or for electric vehicles (EVs) with up to 110 kW of power.

The premiums for categories used for larger, more expensive cars saw the largest changes.

The premium for Category B fell 5.2 per cent or S$5,338 to S$97,000.

Category B is the category for cars with engines of more than 1,600 cc in capacity or with more than 97 kW, or for EVs with more than 110 kW.

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The premium for Category C, applicable to commercial vehicles and buses, increased 1.4 per cent or S$1,000 to S$73,001.

Category E slid 6.1 per cent or S$6,095 to S$94,006. This is the first time it has dipped below S$100,000 since May 2022.

Category E is the open category, which can be used to register any type of vehicle aside from motorcycles. It is generally used to register cars which fall into Category B, which is usually the most expensive type of COE.

The price for Category D – used for motorcycles – decreased 4.1 per cent, or S$379, to S$8,911.

The premiums for the passenger car categories A and B have been on a downtrend since reaching record highs in October 2023, with the supply of COEs going up, thanks in part to measures by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) to bring forward guaranteed deregistrations.

However, Category C prices have been on an upward trend in 2024, rising from S$67,599 in January’s first round of bidding.

No fooling around for some commercial-vehicle dealers

Two dealers in commercial vehicles (CVs) The Business Times spoke to said that there has been an increase in bidding activity, with some CV brands rushing to beat the Apr 1, 2024 deadline, when more stringent regulations on noise levels come into force.

The managing director of a multi-brand commercial and passenger vehicle dealership said that the affected brands are opting to bid for COEs and register the vehicles now, and then sell them as second-hand units without time pressure.

This is because they are holding a current stock of CVs which do not meet the new standards and cannot be registered after that date.

In 2021, Singapore adopted United Nations noise standards for vehicles, which are more stringent than the existing European and Japanese standards that were in force previously.

The UN standards have applied to cars and motorcycles from April 2023, but come into force for commercial vehicles in April 2024.

Industry players said the passenger-car market is beginning to cool after a turbulent January.

On Jan 4, the year’s first round of COE bidding, car categories fell by more than 20 per cent, bringing them back to levels not seen since 2022.

But, spurred by that dramatic drop, and also promotions at the Singapore Motorshow in the second week of January, premiums rose by more than 25 per cent in the month’s second round of bidding on Jan 17.

The manager of a mainstream car brand said: “We’ve still been taking orders, but it’s not a mad rush like we saw last month. The market is now pretty quiet, so I expect most dealers will slowly clear their backlogs and COE prices will be stable.”