Cars in Singapore: My observation/clicks
Owning a car in Singapore is pretty expensive affair I learnt.
Public transport is made cheap and efficient here and owning private cars is
made expensive. Getting a permit to own a car is not easy and not cheap.
Car prices are relatively high. To give you an idea, Mazda 2, a 1.5L hatchback, AT is priced at SGD 106000 or 50 lakhs INR. Mazda 5, an innova equivalent, is priced at SGD 160000 or INR 72 lakhs. Volvo XC60 costs 36 lakhs onwards in India, while they cost 3 times that amount in Singapore. Jaguar XJ costs 83 lakhs in India, 330 k SGD in Singapore.
Weekend/Off peak hour cars
One interesting aspect I could note about cars in Singapore is the weekend cars or Off peak hour cars. When I saw some cars with white on red registration, I asked our cab driver what they meant. He said that these are weekend cars of off peak hour cars. This kind of registration costs much less than normal registration but these are to be used from 7PM to 7AM and during weekend/public holidays only. If found using during peak hours, additional tax and penalty will be levied. This looks like good idea for your second car, which you might intend to use only for weekend trips. However, I learnt not many prefer this concept and go for full registration.
Will such a concept work in India?
Neither people are honest to pay extra tax if they use it during week day, nor we have systems to track peak hour usage of such vehicles
Tata Aria is a copy cat from Honda Stream?
I found several Honda Stream crossovers. It looked very similar in design to Tata Aria (sharing 2 pics of Tata aria from my collection to show comparison)
No Tata and Mahindra in Singapore
I didn't notice any Tata or Mahindra cars in Singapore. Had seen Scorpios in Malaysia. Spotted old version of Swift and Swift sports, not the new swift that we have in India
Luxury cars:
Some pics of few luxury car I could photograph
Audi A1: If brought to India, can be a good bet against the newly launched Merc B class
Inside the cab:
An old Jaguar
A MR2 convertible (not Porsche)
Didn't see Toyota Etios there but Toyota Yaris, Wish, Prius hatchback and many other models can be seen in plenty. Kia, Mazda, Nissan, Citroen and Hyundai have strong presence there.
Nearby attractions: Singapore River Cruise * Reverse Bungee Jumping in Sigapore * Clarke Quay * Ministry of Information building * Hotel Peninsula Excelsior *
Also see: Gardens by the Bay * Marina Bay Sands * Singapore newspapers * Labrador Nature Reserve * National Gardens * Kinetic Rain at Changi Airport *
Car prices are relatively high. To give you an idea, Mazda 2, a 1.5L hatchback, AT is priced at SGD 106000 or 50 lakhs INR. Mazda 5, an innova equivalent, is priced at SGD 160000 or INR 72 lakhs. Volvo XC60 costs 36 lakhs onwards in India, while they cost 3 times that amount in Singapore. Jaguar XJ costs 83 lakhs in India, 330 k SGD in Singapore.
Weekend/Off peak hour cars
One interesting aspect I could note about cars in Singapore is the weekend cars or Off peak hour cars. When I saw some cars with white on red registration, I asked our cab driver what they meant. He said that these are weekend cars of off peak hour cars. This kind of registration costs much less than normal registration but these are to be used from 7PM to 7AM and during weekend/public holidays only. If found using during peak hours, additional tax and penalty will be levied. This looks like good idea for your second car, which you might intend to use only for weekend trips. However, I learnt not many prefer this concept and go for full registration.
Neither people are honest to pay extra tax if they use it during week day, nor we have systems to track peak hour usage of such vehicles
Tata Aria is a copy cat from Honda Stream?
I found several Honda Stream crossovers. It looked very similar in design to Tata Aria (sharing 2 pics of Tata aria from my collection to show comparison)
I didn't notice any Tata or Mahindra cars in Singapore. Had seen Scorpios in Malaysia. Spotted old version of Swift and Swift sports, not the new swift that we have in India
Luxury cars:
Some pics of few luxury car I could photograph
Audi A1: If brought to India, can be a good bet against the newly launched Merc B class
Nearby attractions: Singapore River Cruise * Reverse Bungee Jumping in Sigapore * Clarke Quay * Ministry of Information building * Hotel Peninsula Excelsior *
Also see: Gardens by the Bay * Marina Bay Sands * Singapore newspapers * Labrador Nature Reserve * National Gardens * Kinetic Rain at Changi Airport *
The pictures are smashing...!! Wow...
ReplyDeleteThanks Panchali
ReplyDeleteI'd heard about how expensive it is to own cars there; but not to this extent. I hadn't heard about the off-peak hour cars, either. Very informative post, Shrinidhi.
ReplyDeleteI want a Merc. Imagine driving on kolkata roads..LOL
ReplyDeleteThanks DN
ReplyDeleteHossain: Best wishes
Very very informative. Need not say any thing about the photographs!
ReplyDeleteI agree with your observations. In India, enforcement is a big problem. So people will use the weekend registration and use it every day.
ReplyDeleteSabyasachi Sir, true.
ReplyDeletePNS: Thanks
Point that is made in this car renatal article are better and having such a best quality. I recommend to read this post to all people in this concerned topic.
ReplyDeletedriving in singapore
Have you been to the casinos in MY/SG ? if yes, do you have the link of the post? I can't find in your blog.. :)
ReplyDeleteReddygaru,
ReplyDeleteNo, I didn't visit Casinos. in SG Marina Bay Sands, I've seen it from outside
That's not a porsche.. that is a MR2
ReplyDeleteOK
Delete