Measures to Ensure Stable Motorcycle COE Prices

Mr Png Eng Huat asked the Minister for Transport (a) what are the findings of the meeting between LTA and dealers over the motorcycle COE price spikes; (b) whether any study has been done on the impact of the tiered Additional Registration Fee (ARF) for motorcycles on COE prices since its announcement; and (c) whether there are any measures to ensure motorcycle ownership remains affordable for the working class.

Mdm Speaker, LTA's engagement with motorcycle dealers was part of its efforts to better understand recent Category D price trends. The feedback was that the market is still in a state of flux and will take some time to stabilise following the recent Additional Registration Fee (ARF) changes.

These ARF changes will make higher end motorcycles more expensive. However, lower end motorcycles, which constitute more than 60% of the market, are unaffected and continue to attract an ARF of only 15% of the Open Market Value. Furthermore, we had stopped the contribution of COEs from Category D to the Open Category since May, which will result in a larger supply of motorcycle COEs.

Mdm Speaker, a supplementary question. Since it has introduced the tiered ARF, would the Ministry consider introducing a separate category for motorcycles, so as to address demand, especially to make motorcycle ownership for the lower end models more affordable?

I would like to thank Mr Png for the supplementary question. In fact, this has been raised in previous Parliamentary sittings. But let me reiterate that motorcycles currently are in a separate COE category so that motorcycle buyers need not compete with car buyers for COEs. I think this is quite well understood. However, splitting Category D further would result in a much smaller quota available in each sub-category and this may lead to more volatility in the quota as well as the prices.