The $2 COE has to go up, what else did you expect? The 1st bidding exercise for December 2008 has just concluded, and the Cat A COE that fell to a record $2 last month has been “corrected” to $7721. COE in all categories except Cat C have gone up as well: Cat B to $6501 (was $4889), Cat D to $1102 (was $1012), and Cat E to $7589 (was $7401). Cat C quota premium fell from $6189 to $5212.

The economy may be taking a beating now, but I believe the impact wouldn’t directly impact COE and car prices so quickly. The year is ending, 2009 is just around the corner, and Chinese New Year is coming right up after that. These are the times that people go out to get new cars. Besides, with the COE quota announced to be slashed in the next quota year (or rather the 3% annual growth will be slashed to 1.5%), potential buyers are probably going to make the “buy” decision in this quota year.