January 2024 COE Results 1st Bidding: COEs started the new year as a silent dragon, with Cat A down by $20k to close at $65,010 and Cat B down drastically by $25k to close at $85,010 and Cat E down by $12k to close at $106,388.

In the very first COE bidding exercise of 2024, Cat A closed at $65,010; Cat B closed at $85,010; Cat C closed at $67,599; Cat D closed at $9,114; while Cat E closed at $106,388.

Cat A (car up to 1600cc & 130bhp, and EV with up to 110kW) received 1,184 bids for 924 COEs and its premium dropped by $19,990. Category A COE closed at $65,010.

Cat B (car above 1600cc or 130bhp, and EV with more than 110kW) received 850 bids for 633 COEs and its premium dropped by $24,991. Category B COE closed at $85,010.

Cat C (goods vehicle and bus) received 340 bids for 193 COEs and its premium decreased by $1,824. Category C COE closed at $67,599.

Cat D (motorcycle) received 666 bids for 523 COEs and its premium increased by just $112. Category D COE closed at $9,114.

Lastly, Cat E (all vehicles except motorcycle) received 263 bids for 149 COEs and dropped by $12,000. Category E COE closed at $106,388.

Jason Lim, managing director of BMW authorised agent Eurokars Auto, told Motorist: “Last few weeks of the year, it was quiet in the showrooms because a lot of Singaporeans were travelling during the year-end holidays. Demand was weaker because of that. The COE premiums will definitely move upwards after the Singapore Motorshow, because everybody will have new models to launch and orders to collect.”

Ng Choon Wee, commercial director of Komoco Motors which represents Hyundai in Singapore, told Motorist: “I was predicting about $90k for Cat B and slightly above $70k for Cat A. The previous round’s $110k for Cat B and $85k for Cat A are still considered high. The fact that they dropped this much today, they may have reached a level of acceptance with car buyers, especially those who were waiting for prices to come down before shopping for a new car. But I don’t see COE premiums coming down anymore for the next two months or so.”

Adele Lee, assistant general manager of Polestar under Wearnes Automotive, told Motorist: “With people coming back from their year-end holidays, the collection of orders was affected by the short runway before this round’s COE bidding. Other smaller factors could be the GST increase and the EEAI (EV Early Adoption Incentive) reduction. Some consumers are waiting to compare promotions across the different brands participating in next week’s Singapore Motorshow. With orders collected at the event from those looking to change their rides in time for Chinese New Year, we reckon that Cat B COE premium will increase in the next round’s bidding.”

Nicholas Wong, chief executive officer of Honda authorised agent Kah Motor, told Motorist: “I think there are several factors contributing to the drop, which is overdue. One glaring factor is, there’s less pressure on the price because cars that need to be registered before 31 Dec 2023 have already been registered. Whatever COEs we get from this round will be under the new policy of reduced VES A2 and also the new WLTP emission standard. Whenever there’s a reduction in the rebate, that incentive is gone and people don’t have higher bidding power, therefore we have this drop in both Categories A and B. Also, there are some cars which are still in the process of getting homologated under WLTP, so they cannot be sold yet, because they’re still waiting for the new WLTP emission approval, and this contributes to a shortage of stock. I noticed that both COE categories would have dropped even further if not for last-minute pent-up bidding.” 

Here is a summary of the first COE bidding exercise for January 2024: