Singapore 2011: BMW ends almost a decade of Toyota domination

2012 BMW 3 Series

* NOW UPDATED with the Top 40 best-selling brands: click on title to see! Thanks Michael *

The strength of the Singapore car market is dictated by the price of Certificates of Entitlement (COEs), a program initiated by the government in 1990 to limit car ownership and the number of vehicles on the country’s roads. The system means residents of Singapore have to bid for the right to buy a motor vehicle (including motorcycles), with the number of certificates deliberately restricted. In 2011 even fewer COEs were made available, resulting in higher premiums reaching over S$70,000 for a larger car, almost as much as the car price itself.

As a result the Singapore car market is down 33% on 2010 at 28,270 registrations, and premium makes behaved much better, buyers of such cars being less sensitive to the price increase.

Volvo S60

For the first time since 2002, Toyota is not the best-selling brand in Singapore, dethroned this year by BMW with sales up 5% to 4,959 units and a huge 17.5% market share. Mercedes ranks 2nd with sales down just 11% to 4,166 units and 14.7% share. The BMW 5 Series is the best-selling car in the country with 1,830 sales. As far as I know, Singapore is the only country in the world where BMW is #1.

Toyota is down 49%, from 6,930 sales and 15.7% share in 2010 to 3,562 and 12.6% this year. It is followed by VW and Audi faring rather well at -8% and -4% respectively, Hyundai at -47%, Kia at -67% and Honda at -71%. Volvo is only the 2nd brand in the Top 10 to see its sales increase at +2% and 835 units at #9.

Jaguar XJ

Notice also Porsche at #12 with 584 sales and 2.1% share, Jaguar at #14 with 389 units and 1.4%, Ferrari at #25 with 92 sales, Maserati at #26 with 91 units, Bentley at #30 with 60 sales, Lamborghini at #31 with 49 units, Rolls-Royce at #35 with 39 sales and Aston Martin at #38 with 25 units.

Previous post: Singapore August 2011: BMW and Mercedes fight it out

Full Year 2011 Top 40 Ranking Table below.