Category E plus Category B get the lion’s share of the additional COEs slated for the quota tender period of 2025 August to October
There will be 329 more Cat E COEs and 48 more Cat B COEs, compared to only 75 more Cat A COEs.
The total certificate of entitlement (COE) quota for the tender system’s next quarter, 2025 August to October, will be 18,701.
The 469 more COEs in total equate to a 2.57% increase compared to the previous tender period of 2025 May to July.
Conveniently but rather confusingly, LTA described the COE quota in question as “3% higher than the last quarter”, despite the said increase being closer to 2.5%.
In any case, the bulk of the extra COEs are going to Category E, which is almost always used for bigger and more powerful cars (with over 130bhp of combustion engine horsepower or over 110kW of fully battery-electrical output).
Category E will receive 1,538 COEs for the next three-month, six-bid quota period, which is a meaningful 27.21 percent more than the previous quota period and a massive 48.59 percent more than the 2024 August-October quota period a year ago.
Naturally bundled with the incoming 1,538 Cat E COEs are the 4,737 Cat B COEs, with both certificate categories effectively used for the same broad mix of brand-new “big cars” being sold in Singapore.
Together, the two “big-car” Categories will get about 63 more COEs (55 from Cat E plus 8 from Cat B) in each of the six bidding exercises scheduled from August 6 to October 23.
Category A, in contrast, will get far fewer extra COEs per round on average - just 12 or 13 additional pieces. The total Cat A quota of 7,586 certificates is barely 1 percent more than the previous May-July quota, which had 7,511 certificates.
In percentage terms, Cat A and Cat B have similar increases in their fresh quota (just under 1 percent and a bit over 1 percent respectively), but the new Cat A quota is 29 percent higher than one year ago, while the new Cat B quota is a less useful 19% higher than one year ago.
For Category C (commercial vehicles and buses), the new quota is 1,642 - which is merely 17 more certificates than before. As for Category D (motorcycles), the new quota of 3,198 certificates is exactly the same as the old quota.
Motorist asked two senior automotive executives in the Leng Kee motor belt for their thoughts on the new COE quota for 2025 August to October.
Nicholas Wong, CEO of Honda authorised distributor Kah Motor, told Motorist: “I think there has to be more transparency on the way the quota is being allocated. Right now, the number of deregistrations seems to be going up, yet it is dragged down by the averaging effect of the past one year, hence the quota increase has been insignificant. This puts further upward pressure on COE premiums.”
Ng Choon Wee, commercial director of Hyundai authorised agent Komoco Motors, told Motorist: “The quota is stabilised with the cut-and-fill approach. Nothing surprising, as this was a promise by LTA. Consumers’ concern is whether the COE premium will drop, especially for those with cars that are nearing 9 to 10 years old soon. COE premiums back then were much lower.”
LTA's COE quota calculations for the three-month, six-bid period of 2025 August to October.
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