All COE premiums except the Open Category fall

After a slight increase in premium prices at the end of the 2^nd bidding exercise in May, COE premiums have once again fallen across most categories. At the end of today's exercise, premium prices for small cars ended on the lower $60K range while prices for Category E premiums increased by a small amount.

While Cat A and Cat E premiums have been slowly but steadily declining, Cat E premiums seem to be crawling back at higher rates, possibly due to the launch of a buffet of new cars, which includes the all new Audi S3 Sedan, the Subaru WRX STI and the MINI Cooper S.

Category A COEs, for cars up to 1,600cc in displacement and power output no higher than 130bhp, ended at $63,190 - a drop of $2,499 from two weeks ago.

Although the decrease is a small 3.8 percent, it is the widest among the car categories and is the fourth dive for small car premiums, which started in late March - where premiums were priced as high as $78,602.

COEs premiums for Category B, for cars larger than 1,600cc and has a power higher than 130bhp, ended the tender at $67,304 from $68,103 in the last exercise - a minor drop of 1.2 percent - amounting to $799.

Only the Open Category (or Category E) defied the downward slide and ended just $44 higher at $67,334 today, from $67,290 two weeks ago.