TEMPO.CO, Singapore - Singaporean chip designer Eu Gene Goh is an electric-vehicle evangelist with two Teslas (TSLA.O) in the garage.

But the car-tech enthusiast is also not ready to give up his S$1.6-million ($1.21 million) McLaren 765LT with a V8 engine capable of hitting 100 km per hour in three seconds.

The city-state's bid to stop the purchase of combustion-engine cars from 2030 has bumped up against an entrenched love of supercars, ultra-luxury rides and buyers with enough income to keep them in one of the most expensive places in the world to own a car.

Singapore's target of phasing out combustion car sales by 2030 puts it in a small group of countries with that near-term goal, including Iceland, Sweden and the Netherlands, but sales of electric cars in those markets have picked up faster.

The Singapore government has been pushing electric vehicles (EVs) for two years, offering incentives of up to S$45,000 and expanding the charging network, but take-up by individual buyers will need to vastly accelerate to hit the target.

EV made up almost 12% of all car sales in Singapore last year, up from almost 4% in 2021, according to the Land Transport Authority.

Still, EVs represented just 1% of cars on the road, a Reuters analysis of ownership data found. By comparison, combustion sports cars in a city where the Formula 1 Grand Prix is one of the biggest events of the year made up 1.65% of the almost 653,000 registered vehicles.

In Singapore, a small island with an extensive public transport system, only about 12 cars are owned per 100 people. That compares to 9 per 100 in Hong Kong and 82 in the U.S.

One factor is price: it costs at least S$88,000 for the right to own a small car for a decade, excluding the vehicle's cost in Singapore, a system that has driven luxury sales.

Over the past decade, the number of Ferraris (RACE.MI) in Singapore has grown by 67% and Lamborghinis by 38%. The number of McLarens has grown more than five-fold to 180 since 2012, the data shows. There are almost five times more Porsches (PSHG_p.DE) on the road than Teslas.

"Basically, the entire market has moved upscale," said Singapore-based transport economist Walter Theseira.

Singapore's preference for luxury and performance cars was a function of rising wealth among a cohort of residents while lower-income people were priced out car ownership, he added.

HSBC estimates 13% of Singaporeans may be millionaires by 2030, the highest share in the world.

REUTERS

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