Big ticket car buyers in Singapore really splashed out in 2021 with Bentley, Ferrari, Rolls-Royce and more seeing multi-year registration highs

SINGAPORE
Super-luxury car brands did extremely well in Singapore last year, with some brands enjoying multi-year highs in registrations, and with one mega-luxe brand selling more cars here than it ever has before. 

Super-Luxury car registrations in Singapore 2019 to 2021

In mainstream luxury cars – namely the German luxury brands – we’ve returned to the now familiar sight of Mercedes-Benz and BMW back on the best-selling car brand podium as our analysis of Singapore’s most popular car brands of 2021 shows. But the realm of super-luxury/high-performance cars, where each car often costs at least S$700,000, saw almost uniformly impressive sales in 2021. 

Luxe in a time of cholera corona 

Looking at the chart, you can see that the vast majority of the super-lux brands exceeded their sales from 2020, which is no surprise given that was arguably The Pandemic Year, but they have also bettered their 2019 numbers. 

The stand-outs here are Bentley, Ferrari, McLaren, and Rolls-Royce. Bentley sold 103 cars, which is just short of its best-ever result on record, which was 125 units in 2013. Ferrari saw an eight-year high with its 67 units registered – the last time it sold that many cars was 2013, with 69 cars. McLaren registered 28 units, representing a 75 percent increase. The only time it’s sold more cars was its debut year – 2012. 

Interestingly enough, the last time we saw such big numbers for these brands was circa 2013 – when COE prices were extremely high, and the world was still in the grip of an economic crisis. 

On a roll 

Because carmakers in this area sometimes limit production on purpose, it’s difficult to compare this segment in terms of raw numbers. but one thing is quite clear: Rolls-Royce had a particularly outstanding 2021.

Globally it enjoyed its best sales ever, and it was no different in The Lion City. Its 90 units registered signify the British carmaker’s best ever results in Singapore, almost doubling its 2020 numbers. 

 Mr Thorsten Muller-Otvos, the chief executive officer of Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, said the sales increase was not wholly a surprise, but the magnitude of the improvement was an eye-opener: “I would not call it a surprise. I wouldn’t have. I knew in the beginning of 2021 that we would see a very good year for us, but I was quite surprised to see it so good,” he said in an interview. 

“And to see it developing in all markets on similar levels. It’s fantastic. And I mean, growth in terms…it’s unbelievable. And so for that reason, I wouldn’t have thought that a year from now.” 

Rolls-Royce’s sales have been boosted by its SUV offering, the Culinan, which made up 23 units of its total of 90, and in 2021 the brand also launched a new version of its Ghost limousine.

The SUV – like this Rolls-Royce Cullinan – is now the ‘default’ car type in Singapore

Off the charts

But in the realm of upper-upper crust luxury, that’s not even the whole story. Registration figures don’t include cars that aren’t registered for on-road use in Singapore. Some of the most exclusive and exotic luxury / high-performance cars on sale are often non-road-legal, being left-hand drive only units or track-only specials.

For instance, Bugatti Singapore sold four cars in 2021 – also a high for the French exotic hyper car brand – but as all of its cars are made in left-hand drive only, none can be registered for on-road use here. Its dealer here, Wearnes Automotive, also sells similarly exotic cars from the brands Koenigsegg, Pininfarina, and Rimac. Other luxury brands like Aston Martin and even Mercedes-Benz have also produced similar cars (namely the Valkyrie and AMG One hypercars).

In the wider retail landscape, luxury goods have already eclipsed pre-pandemic levels so in a sense, this sort of behaviour is not entirely unexpected. In fact, as early as March 2021, some news outlets noted the ‘post crisis’ boom with deep-pocketed consumers spending big – the largest sailing yacht in the world notwithstanding.  

“And I think it’s something like what you see in the entire luxury goods industry currently, that it’s not about just cars, it’s watches, it’s private jets, it’s yachts, whatever, it’s luxury real estate. Everything is booming,” said Mr Muller-Otvos.