Small cars get increased COE supply from August

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has announced that there will be 11,331 COE quotas for the next quarter from August to October 2014. More COEs have been assigned to Cat A and Cat B while the Open Category faces an 18.4 percent drop. The overall monthly quota allocations have also shrunk by six percent from 4,019 premiums in the current term to 3,777 in the next.

Bidding under this allocation will commence with the first COE exercise in August 2014.

Cat A COE quotas for cars up to 1,600cc in displacement and carrying no more than 130bhp has increased 11.5 percent from 1,011 currently, to 1,143 from August.

Cat B COE quotas for cars with bigger displacement or containing more than 130bhp have increased from 966 to 1,010 from August - amounting to an increase of 4.4 percent.

The Open Category, for cars of any type and taxis, will shrink 18.4 percent. This is the widest difference among the car categories, from 586 quotas currently to 478 from August.

In total, car related COE supply has increased from 2,563 currently to 2,631 for the period between August to October.

In addition, COE supply for commercial vehicles (Cat C) and motorbikes (Cat D) will also face a drop. COE supply will shrink from 770 to 515 per month for Cat C, and Cat D supply will decrease to 631 from 686 a month.

According to The Straits Times, the removal of more cars from the road has caused the increase in car COE supply as those which were registered during the boom years a decade ago are approaching the end of their statutory 10-year lifespan. The English daily also added that fewer motorbikes and commercial vehicles were scrapped in the last three months.

The quota for the bidding period of November 2014 to January 2015 will be announced in October 2014.