Overview
- The Land Transport Authority has published a consultation to combine Category A and B into a single passenger‑car COE and apply rebates or surcharges determined by value bands.
- LTA set out two banding options: a three‑band system with ±$15,000 adjustments and a five‑band system that includes ±$7,500 tiers, with band placement based on each model’s median open market value or OMV.
- Dealers and motorists are mostly taking a wait‑and‑see stance and many dealers do not expect the reform alone to lower the COE market because the change does not add more COEs.
- Industry representatives warned the median OMV is not fully transparent and could be skewed or gamed by tactics such as parallel imports or model tweaks, which could shift band placement.
- Separately, a planned rollback of EV incentives from January 2027 is driving some buyers into showrooms now and could matter more for near‑term sales than the COE consultation; the consultation is open and stakeholders are still assessing likely product and pricing responses.