BMWs at $213,000 Is Singapore Way to Push Trains: Southeast Asia

Singapore will stick to a licensing system that has made it one of the world’s most expensive places to buy a car, limiting vehicle ownership to encourage more people to use public transport.

Singapore needs the so-called certificate of entitlement for the “short and medium term” because of land limitations and road congestions, Lui Tuck Yew, minister of transport, said in an interview yesterday. More than 20,000 vehicles were sold in the city-state between January and November 2013, with luxury automakers Daimler AG and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG emerging as the top two sellers, making up one in every three cars sold.