Category A gets fewer COEs and Category B gets more COEs in new quota for 2026 August-October

LTA (Land Transport Authority) has set the total COE (certificate of entitlement) quota for the three-month, six-bid tender period of 2026 August to October at 19,085. .

This figure is merely 33 certificates more than the previous quota of 19,052 COEs for 2026 May to July.

On a granular level with calculators in action, the quarterly supply of Category A COEs has shrunk for the third time running since 2026 February. The Category B COE supply, however, has grown steadily within the same timeframe.

In fact, if we lump Cat B COEs with Cat E COEs (aka open Category) since the latter are usually used to register the same Cat B “big cars”, the current quota has almost the same number of COEs for Category A and Category B/E - respectively 7,134 and 7,050 (5,527 Cat B COEs plus 1,523 Cat E COEs). 

As for Category C (commercial vehicles including vans), the quota for 2026 August to October has been increased by 5.4% from 1,742 to 1,836 COEs.

LTA's three-month, six-bid COE quota calculations for the 2026 August-October period.

Motorist canvassed the Leng Kee and Ubi dealership clusters for executive remarks about the new COE quota for 2026 August to October. There seems to be more questions than answers at this point.

Komoco Motors’ Hyundai commercial director, Ng Choon Wee, wondered: “Have the cut-and-fill COEs been exhausted? We saw reduction in Cat A quota for a few periods.” 

Kah Motor’s Honda CEO, Nicholas Wong, also wondered: “There are around 10k deregistrations for Cat A during the last quarter, but only 7k has been allocated?”

Mr Wong added: “At this moment, the Cat A COE most urgently needs fixing. This latest allocation will only force Categories A and B to converge even more.”

Mr Ng predicted that “We may see COE premiums of Cat A being higher than Cat B more often. With the overcrowding of models in Cat A, its COE will continue to climb, and bidders may use Cat E to fulfil Cat A (orders).”

Tan Chong Motor’s head of Nissan sales & marketing, Ron Lim, remarked: “This came at a time when Cat A COE gap with Cat B is almost non-existent and sometimes even higher. So, unless consumers are going to switch out of Cat A cars, we’re likely to see Cat A COE premium staying close to Cat B COE.”

Mr Lim also said that “The biggest surprise is the 4 percent drop in Cat A COE quota. Despite Q2 deregistrations hitting more than 10k, the number of COEs returned is trailing significantly behind actual deregistration due to the four-quarterly average. To add on to that, the clawback of earlier identified guaranteed dereg numbers has continued to increase.” 

Premium Automobiles managing director, Lee Hoe Lone, told Motorist: “With the new allocation, both Category (A and B) prices will be very close, building the perfect case to remove Cat A.”

Read More: Cat A needs more COEs to meet current demand but gets fewer instead, while Cat B gets more COEs

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