Demand for premium cars holds steady despite rising COE prices

Demand for premium cars holds steady despite rising COE prices

    By Dylan Loh
    POSTED: 07 Sep 2013 8:28 PM
 
Motor firms Channel NewsAsia spoke to say demand for premium cars are holding steady even as Certificate of Entitlement prices head north.

SINGAPORE: Motor firms Channel NewsAsia spoke to say demand for premium cars are holding steady even as Certificate of Entitlement (COE) prices head north.

They say many luxury model dealers have been trying to secure their certificates early to hedge against changes to the system yet to be announced by authorities.

The changes are expected to further differentiate premium cars from lower-end makes.

Hefty downpayments, additional taxes and high Certificate of Entitlement (COE) prices are what potential car buyers have to face when purchasing a luxury car.

However, it seems there are enough people with deep pockets for demand for premium makes to continually remain strong.

Eddie Loo, managing director of CarTimes Automobile, said: "The people that coming in to buy are those that can afford the very huge amount of downpayment. Basically, most of them are buying with cash. For the very few of the quite well-off and rich, they don't mind to buy now."

Authorities have signalled intention to greater segregate premium models and non-luxury ones by possibly tweaking COE categories according to vehicles' engine power or market value.

This aims to put affordable cars in a class of their own.

Ahead of impending changes, dealers of higher-end makes haven't noticed a surge in purchases of premium models that jostle with lower-end makes for limited COEs in the small cars category.

Dealers of luxury sedans Mercedes-Benz and BMW say demand is quite evenly spread across their offerings.

Many dealers point to tight COE supply as key to driving up vehicle costs, and have suggested that authorities consider a fixed yearly quota as the solution.

There is a sense of trepidation shared by many motor firms over where their businesses are heading, which is why they hope any changes made to the COE system will go towards bringing more certainty to the market.

These changes, they say, will not only benefit them but also car buyers.

- CNA/fa

- wong chee tat :)