EVs form about 60% of new car registrations in S’pore; four Chinese brands among top 10 bestsellers

SINGAPORE – Electric vehicles (EVs) accounted for 57.6 per cent of the 13,322 new cars registered in the first three months of 2026, outnumbering combustion engine and hybrid models for the first time in Singapore.

This is a leap from the 45 per cent recorded in 2025, 18.1 per cent in 2023, 11.7 per cent in 2022, and just 3.8 per cent in 2021.

In the first quarter of 2026, 7,679 new electric cars were registered in Singapore.

Chinese giant BYD registered 3,239 units, or nearly one in four (24.3 per cent) total registrations, extending its dominance from a 21.2 per cent market share at the end of 2025.

Based on Land Transport Authority registration data published on April 24, three other Chinese brands – Chery (seventh), GAC (eighth) and MG (ninth) – joined BYD for the first time in the top 10 selling car brands in Singapore.

They displaced South Korean brands Hyundai and Kia, which were in seventh and ninth position, respectively, in 2025, and Japanese brand Mazda, which was ranked eighth that same year.

Despite having limited EV offerings, Toyota retained its second position with 1,932 registrations and a market share of 14.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2026 – marking a 0.3 percentage point improvement over 2025.

American EV brand Tesla captured 11.4 per cent of the market with 1,515 registrations, making it the third best-selling brand in Singapore, up from sixth in 2025.

Mercedes-Benz, in fourth, had 6.4 per cent of the total car market, the same ranking as in 2025, while BMW, in fifth, had 6.2 per cent, and was previously third in 2025.

Honda slipped one position to sixth with a 5.1 per cent market share, while Nissan rounded out the top 10 in 10th place with a 2.6 per cent market share.

Under current schemes intended to lower the cost of buying an EV, consumers get as much as $30,000 in rebates off upfront vehicle taxes. In contrast, non-EVs can be penalised by up to $35,000, based on their emission levels.

Chinese EV brands have also been successful in taking advantage of the certificate of entitlement (COE) system by offering models that fit in the Category A COE bracket, which typically costs less than a Category B COE.

Associate Professor Walter Theseira, a transport economist at the Singapore University of Social Sciences, said that after rebates, consumers are basically getting the equivalent of a higher-end $200,000 combustion engine car for the $170,000 or so it costs to buy a mass-market EV.

At the same time, he added, many mass-market EVs are offering much more in terms of features and driving performance than comparable combustion engine cars from Japan and South Korea.

Prof Theseira said that in addition to the attributes EVs have, their sellers are more active in advertising to get consumers’ attention than the sellers of combustion engine-powered models, which spurs buying interest.

He added that while EV adoption continues to accelerate, it is difficult to reach a stage when all new car registrations will be electric, especially for drivers who cover many miles daily; for them, a hybrid car is still more convenient.

Automotive industry consultant Say Kwee Neng said registration data reflects the effectiveness of the various policy moves to encourage EV adoption.

The latest move is the revision of the preferential additional registration fee (PARF) rebate that affects new cars registered from February 2026.

Announced by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Feb 12, the PARF rebate – the amount that owners get when they deregister their cars – has been lowered by 45 percentage points.

The PARF rebate is calculated as a percentage of the additional registration fee (ARF) a car owner has paid. ARF is the tax paid based on the car’s open market value, which is the approximate cost of a car before taxes.

The revision is consistent with Singapore’s overall direction of nudging more buyers towards EVs. This is because the gap in the PARF rebates between EVs and non-EVs is narrowed with the revision.

Across the board, PARF rebates for petrol-hybrid cars will be slashed much more than for EVs.

Mr Say said that with the gap in PARF rebates between EVs and non-EVs drastically reduced, consumers have fewer reasons to insist on petrol engine models.

Mr Neo Nam Heng, adviser to the Automobile Importer & Exporter Association (Singapore), said that as the cost of developing EVs is falling, along with their growing popularity, there is less need for EV incentives to help adoption.

Mr Neo, who is also chairman of diversified motor group Prime, added that while the upfront cost of buying EVs is now lower than for the alternatives, consumers are not always aware that the cost to own and use an EV can be high.

In addition to charging cost, EVs are subjected to higher annual road tax than non-EVs.

Mr Neo believes that there is still a place for petrol-hybrid cars in Singapore because the technology is established and has gained consumer confidence.