Singapore Full Year 2013: Mercedes leads for the first time

Mercedes is the best-selling carmaker in Singapore in 2013.

* See the Top 50 All-brands ranking by clicking on the title! Thanks Michael *

Car loan restrictions and Certificate of Entitlement (license plate permits) prices rising to all-time high levels have meant new car sales in Singapore have dropped 13% year-on-year in 2013 to just 22,472 registrations. It is fair to say that these various restrictions to discourage people from buying a car have 1. worked and 2. made Singapore the country in the world where cars are the most expensive. As a result, luxury brands have been thriving in the country for the past couple of years as they are the only ones that wealthy customers would buy no matter what. If BMW manages two consecutive years at #1 in 2011 and 2012, this year it is passed by Mercedes, holding the Singapore #1 brand title for the first time thanks to sales down ‘only’ 10% to 3,871 and 17.2% share. For its part BMW is down 26% to 3,729 sales and 16.6%.

Jaguar sales are up 27% year-on-year in Singapore in 2013.

Like in 2012, Toyota/Lexus rounds up the podium at 3,459 units and 15.4%, down 19%. In fact the entire Top 5 best-sellers are unchanged with Volkswagen at #4 (-19%) and Audi at #5 (+7%). Yep, that’s 4 German brands in the Top 5… Volvo is up one spots to #6, Mazda up a huge 11 ranks and 83% to #7 and 635 sales, Jaguar is up a brilliant 27% to break into the Singaporean annual Top 10 for the first time at #9 and 2.2% share – probably its only Top 10 ranking in the world, Subaru is up 49% to #18, Bentley up 34% to #21 and Rolls Royce up 18% to #26. Model-wise, no data available for now but the Mercedes E-Class and BMW 5 Series should be fighting for the top spot. So if you have access to models data for Singapore please make sure to get in touch!

Previous month: Singapore November 2013: Toyota/Lexus in the lead

One year ago: Singapore Full Year 2012: BMW #1 for second year running

Two years ago: Singapore Full Year 2011: BMW ends almost a decade of Toyota domination

December Top 32 and Full Year 2013 Top 50 brands Ranking Table below.