Interest in new cars has been rising steadily in the past month, mainly by buyers with small ageing cars, reported The Business Times. There is an increased activity at some showrooms as owners are mainly snooping around for car models that fall under COE Category A: classified as cars with engine capacity up to 1,600cc and no more than 130bhp.

However distributors the business daily spoke to cite actual sales of cars have not increased - in relation to increased activity in showrooms - as prospective buyers hope for COE premiums to head south.

One brand that has seen its showroom traffic surge in recent weeks is Chevrolet, whose launch of the new Sonic model is believed to have attracted more walk-in customers. A sales manager told the paper the showroom is seeing an influx of 'window shoppers', who own cars that still have one to one-and-a-half years of lifespan, coming in to review the market first.

The Chevrolet sales manager also cited buyers are reluctant to buy cars now as they believe COE prices will start easing with the next announcement of the COE quota in mid-October. Most expect the COE quota between November 2014 to January 2015 to be larger than the current quarter.

Not all showrooms have seen an increase in traffic however. Popular brands like Volkswagen, Toyota and Honda have experienced the same or lower levels from the previous month, while footfall at Mitsubishi and Kia has been irregular.

According to the Land Transport Authority (LTA), as at the end of August, there were 56,271 cars aged between nine and 10 years, accounting for 9.1 percent of the passenger car population. The number of cars between eight and nine-years old is 109,256 units or 17.6 percent.