SINGAPORE: The Certificate of Entitlement (COE) premium for Category A cars closed at a record high in the latest bidding exercise on Wednesday (Nov 4).
For Category A cars, or those 1,600cc and below with horsepower not exceeding 130bhp, the premium closed at S$139,001 (US$108,686), up 5.3 per cent from S$132,004 in the last exercise.
The premium for larger and more powerful cars in Category B rose 0.3 per cent to S$132,334 from S$131,901.
COEs for commercial vehicles, which include goods vehicles and buses, remained the same at S$92,000 as in the previous bidding exercise.
The premium for motorcycles closed at S$10,689, down 0.8 per cent from S$10,778 in the last exercise.
Open category COEs, which can be used for any vehicle type but end up being used mainly for large cars, rose 0.2 per cent to S$135,998 from S$135,790.
A total of 4,722 bids were received, with a quota of 3,259 COEs available.
The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said COE prices remained elevated, likely due to strong demand for mass-market electric vehicles that qualify under Category A.
It added that a recent car expo held on Oct 24 and Oct 25 may have contributed to increased demand during this period.
“We urge buyers and dealers to be prudent in bidding for COEs,” an LTA spokesperson said.
LTA said last week that the COE quota for November 2026 to January next year would increase by 1.1 per cent to 19,298, with Category B cars’ quota rising by about 3.3 per cent.
The quota for Category A cars will remain unchanged, while quotas for Category C and Category E will increase by about 2 per cent and about 3.7 per cent, respectively. The motorcycle quota under Category D will fall by about 2 per cent.