It is the first weekend of the Chinese Lunar New Year and some showrooms saw a steady flow of prospective buyers on Saturday (Feb 21).
Despite Certificate of Entitlement (COE) premiums, especially for small cars, going down recently due to a higher number of de-registrations, car dealers said many buyers were still taking a “wait-and-see” approach.
And although market demand is growing, many hope the COE will slide further before they commit to a purchase.
Neo Nam Heng, president of the Automobile Importer & Exporter Association, said: “We’re projecting more COEs coming into the market because from January figures, you can see there are already 5,000 or more deregistered vehicles.”
Mr Neo added: “Besides the supply-demand issues, there are other factors like currency exchange rates and the CEV (carbon emissions-based vehicle scheme) rebates. Euro and yen are so weak that there are substantial savings for importers to support the COE price. So COE prices will be softened, but not collapse.”
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
