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Fewer COEs but Govt collecting more money
By SAMUEL EE
THE new car market turned out to be a strange animal last year: the skinnier it grew, the more it gave back.
A total of only 41,000-plus new cars were registered in 2010, down about 39 per cent from the 68,862 units in 2009. But the revenue collected from certificates of entitlement (COEs) is another matter: it ballooned as the number of new cars shrank, BT's calculations show.
In 2010, the revenue collected from three categories of COE - Cat A (for cars below 1,600cc), Cat B (for cars above 1,600cc) and Cat E (the open category) - amounted to $1,409,673,696
(assuming the full premium was paid for each of the successful COE bids).
For 2009, the equivalent figure is $810,584,166, which means a 73.9 per cent jump in COE revenue collected in 2010.
The amount of Cat C commercial vehicle COE premiums reaped was even higher in 2010. Last year, total Cat C revenue collected amounted to $133,622,359, or 124 per cent more than 2009's $59,572,151.
'For the government, it must be a win-win situation,' said a senior executive in a premium dealership. 'Its coffers are overflowing even with less COEs released, which means it can reduce congestion and still make more money. This can only happen with a booming economy.'
But the head of a motor group said that such a trend could make the car a purely luxury item and many from the mass market could decide to shun private vehicles if the premiums stayed high as quotas shrank. 'The rich will complain a bit but they are not really affected,' he said.
By SAMUEL EE
THE new car market turned out to be a strange animal last year: the skinnier it grew, the more it gave back.
A total of only 41,000-plus new cars were registered in 2010, down about 39 per cent from the 68,862 units in 2009. But the revenue collected from certificates of entitlement (COEs) is another matter: it ballooned as the number of new cars shrank, BT's calculations show.
In 2010, the revenue collected from three categories of COE - Cat A (for cars below 1,600cc), Cat B (for cars above 1,600cc) and Cat E (the open category) - amounted to $1,409,673,696
(assuming the full premium was paid for each of the successful COE bids).For 2009, the equivalent figure is $810,584,166, which means a 73.9 per cent jump in COE revenue collected in 2010.
The amount of Cat C commercial vehicle COE premiums reaped was even higher in 2010. Last year, total Cat C revenue collected amounted to $133,622,359, or 124 per cent more than 2009's $59,572,151.
'For the government, it must be a win-win situation,' said a senior executive in a premium dealership. 'Its coffers are overflowing even with less COEs released, which means it can reduce congestion and still make more money. This can only happen with a booming economy.'
But the head of a motor group said that such a trend could make the car a purely luxury item and many from the mass market could decide to shun private vehicles if the premiums stayed high as quotas shrank. 'The rich will complain a bit but they are not really affected,' he said.
