autobahn sounds conti n premium. wat happen?
1. In Dec 2025, almost all banks stopped new financing for the car leasing companies. That's means that these dudes cannot bid for COE or only bid with full cash. CAT A COE dropped $7000 (popular PHV category) in first Jan bidding. COE expected to resume slide after digesting last week's Motorshow orders.
2. Those car leasing companies that survived, resorted to offloading some inventory for their cashflow and working capital needs.
3. Less honest car leasing companies sold/transferred better models (lower mileage) away, before they ceased operations. Rumoured that Grab is also affected (share price down in last 3 months of 2025) but they hope to double down by using GrabRentals (financed by GXS) to obtain more vehicles cheaply. Lumen is also struggling. (Top 3 Grab PHV rental companies - Autobahn, Lumen, Grab Rentals)
4. Many vehicles are trucked away from car leasing companies without proper repair/maintenance, no insurance or road-tax. For those rented out, the cars are trucked away from their lessees, without car keys.
5. Lately, the first wave of auctions has appeared in the market.
This is why sales of last week's motorshow flopped because there will be so many auction cars in first half of 2026.
Now imagine a few hundred PHVs missing on the road, Singapore Airshow's AMDK cannot hire enough Alphards to ferry them around.
