COE premiums fall across most categories; Cat A ends at $130,001
Open category (Category E) COE premium held steady at $137,000.
In the recent Category A COE premium tender exercise on October 7, the price dropped slightly to $130,001, following an all-time high of $133,009 in early September. All other categories experienced a decline in COE premiums, except for the Open category (Category E), which remained unchanged at $137,000. The Category A COE, designed for smaller and less powerful cars, including electric vehicles, saw a 1.4% decrease from $131,890 to $130,001.
The Category B COE, used for larger and more powerful vehicles, dropped by 2.2% from $133,000 to $130,100. The premium for commercial vehicles (Category C) decreased by 0.3% to $91,889, while the motorcycle (Category D) COE premium dropped significantly by 9.7% from $12,201 to $11,012.
Commercial director of Komoco Motors, Ng Choon Wee, attributed the reduction in COE prices for Categories A and B to weaker market demand. He suggested that some buyers might have postponed their purchases, anticipating better deals at the upcoming Cars@Expo event from October 24 to 25. Volvo managing director Corinne Chua from Wearnes Automotive also believed that the event played a role in the lower COE prices, predicting that prices for Categories A and B would rise again after buyers place more orders.
She added that as this car show is the last major one in 2026 before new schemes encouraging EV adoption take effect from January 1, 2027, it may lead to more deals being sealed, driving up COE prices. The upcoming changes include higher surcharges for cars with high exhaust emissions and the discontinuation of the EV Early Adoption Incentive, which provided a rebate of up to $15,000 before it was halved to $7,500 from January 1, 2026.
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