Synopsis: Every 3rd Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times examines not just vehicle prices but wider transport issues and trends connected to public and private transport.
Podcaster: Lee Nian Tjoe
Produced and edited by: Teo Tong Kai
Executive producers: Ernest Luis & Lynda Hong
A podcast by The Straits Times, SPH Media.
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Données mises à jour le 04/07/2026
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From keen pricing to guaranteeing the resale value of its electric vehicle, BYD is bent on staying on top.
Synopsis: Every 3rd Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times examines not just vehicle prices but wider transport issues and trends connected to public and private transport.
BYD has been in Singapore for more than a decade before it became the country’s biggest selling car brand among authorised distributors. Mr James Ng, the managing director for Singapore and the Philippines, is doubling down on efforts to ensure that BYD extends its lead, not just for passenger cars, but also for public buses and commercial vehicles.
Highlights (click/tap above):
2:44 BYD, the same company that made surgical masks during the Covid-19 pandemic
8:44 Eyes a fourth dealer to grow its retail network
14:00 Dealers are free to be creative with their services, but BYD prices are fixed
32:44 We will definitely not be starting a taxi company
34:41 Unsurprising if EV adoption comes up to 50 per cent in 2025
From parents of newborns to riders who dismantle their motorcycles to evade repossession, this man has seen them all.
Synopsis: Every 3rd Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times examines not just vehicle prices but wider transport issues and trends connected to public and private transport.
What happens when a hire-purchase car goes missing or when a marriage turns sour and the fighting parties want their assets back? They call on repossessors like Mr Jim Koh, who has been in the repossession-cum-towing trade for nearly 20 years.
Highlights (click/tap above):
2:31 The difference between a towing service and repossessing a vehicle
5:10 Repossessing a vehicle can turn nasty
14:41 Job hazards of being run over or pelted with eggs
21:54 When Jim is compassionate when repossessing vehicles
Raising school bus fares cannot solve woes in industry
Saison 2 · Épisode 2
mardi 17 décembre 2024 • Durée 25:07
“Money not enough” - not even raising fares can fix current school bus woes.
Synopsis: Every 3rd Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times examines not just vehicle prices but wider transport issues and trends connected to public and private transport.
School bus fares are constantly rising, and yet operators are saying that ferrying pupils to schools is a loss-making venture with little way out. Mr Darry Lim, 44, who grew his father’s bus company from eight to 38 buses, says that the troubles facing the industry are only worsening as a sizeable number of local drivers are leaving the trade every year.
Darry is the director of Hui Leong, a private transport company and serves as the transport officer of the Singapore School Transport Association which represents mainly self-employed school bus drivers.
Highlights (click/tap above):
2:21 More drivers than buses are needed
4:11 Shrinking local driver population also means a cut in foreign drivers because of the allowable foreign worker quota, worsening the situation
7:05 A driver’s typical working day start at 5.30am to pick up the first pupil
15:40 The international school student chips in
19:15 “I might be dead before I can pay off the bus!”
Why taxi drivers are “changing shift” when you need them most
Saison 2 · Épisode 1
mardi 19 novembre 2024 • Durée 30:27
Improve your chances of getting a ride on a wet Friday evening with some hacks from this experienced cabbie.
Synopsis: Every 3rd Wednesday of the month, The Straits Times examines not just vehicle prices but wider transport issues and trends connected to public and private transport.
Mr James Quak is among the 89,000 qualified taxi drivers in Singapore. In this episode of Wheel Insights, the 49-year-old sheds light on how taxi drivers work out their share of the vehicle rental and how they decide which ride booking to take.
Highlights (click/tap above):
2:35 The difference between being a taxi hirer and a “relief driver”
5:41 How much driving time makes up for daily taxi rental
13:59 Why taxi drivers don't look out for street-hailers
17:46 How much taxi drivers benefited during the East-West Line MRT disruption in September 2024
23:01 The reason why taxi drivers always seems to be changing shift during peak travel hours
25:39 Advice for those considering joining the trade
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How to get from autonomous vehicles to flying cars: Xpeng CEO
Saison 1 · Épisode 18
mardi 12 novembre 2024 • Durée 11:34
Technology is advancing at such a pace as Chinese electric vehicle brand Xpeng is aiming to prove to the global market.
Synopsis: In this special episode, The Straits Times' Lee Nian Tjoe meets Mr He Xiaopeng, the chairman and chief executive of Chinese electric vehicle brand, Xpeng.
By 2025, Xpeng cars will bring the driver from door-to-door with barely any human intervention and in 2026, it plans to deliver its first flying vehicle.
Xpeng is using automated driving technology to make driving safer and more relaxing.
The target, Mr He says, is to make the cars behave like “good drivers” on the road, adapt to local conditions and behaviours.
Concurrently, the company is taking to the skies. Its first flying vehicle will reach customers in 2026.
Highlights (click/tap above):
2:55 By 2025, Xpeng’s drivers will only need to step in to take control once or twice per 100km covered
3:45 Level 5 autonomous driving means that the vehicle can handle itself in all conditions, whether it is a typhoon or an earthquake
5:25 Automated driving technology does not mean drivers will lose their jobs
7:00 Flying cars?
8:46 How Xpeng picks its markets and goes about entering them
9:35 On why only a minority of car companies in China today will survive in the next five to 10 years
Has pricey car ownership killed youths' desire for cars?
Saison 1 · Épisode 17
dimanche 22 septembre 2024 • Durée 56:07
A university professor says his students are not keen on owning a car, while a motor industry expert says that they would, if cars were affordable.
Synopsis: Every third Tuesday of the month, The Straits Times offers expert insights on new vehicles or transportation trends.
In this episode, COE Watch host Lee Nian Tjoe invites Associate Professor Raymond Ong from the National University of Singapore, who wrote an opinion piece published in The Straits Times in August which said that the current price of certificate of entitlement (COE) needed to register a mass-market car is more affordable to households in Singapore today than it was in 2013. His other guest is motor trader-turned-consultant Say Kwee Neng.
Highlights (click/tap above):
6:15 The reality at the showrooms, where the age of car buyers has changed from 10 years ago
12:05 Car-leasing firms for private hire have changed the game in the demand for COEs
26:20 The danger of the sense of defeatism in youths when cost of a car has reached far beyond their means
35:00 COE and car taxes in deterring ownership "have past a use-by date"
42:00 How much to pay under a distance-based road pricing system or a satellite-based system?
The influence of Haidilao on our appetite for Chinese cars
Saison 1 · Épisode 16
mardi 20 août 2024 • Durée 41:19
A motor industry expert connects popular culture to the success of Chinese car brands in Singapore.
Synopsis: Every third Tuesday of the month, The Straits Times offers expert insights on new vehicles or transportation trends.
BYD is leading the sales chart in Singapore and other Chinese car brands are also making their way here. In a market where the total number of vehicle registrations is capped, the success of the newcomers comes at the cost of incumbent players.
Dr Victor Kwan, who was in the motor trade for more than 20 years before joining academia, explains what is driving this trend and whether it is sustainable.
Highlights (click/tap above):
6:15 The reason for the appearance of so many new Chinese car brands in Singapore
8:20 What BYD Is doing right
22:00 The pressure to develop the charging infrastructure to spur the desire for electric cars
24:50 What dealers think about when deciding to bring in a car brand
Follow COE Watch Podcast here and get notified for new episode drops:
Channel:
Why Singaporeans should expect a lot from the transport system
Saison 1 · Épisode 15
mercredi 31 juillet 2024 • Durée 20:51
From the evolution of MRT lines to buses, wider cycling paths and committing to being “car-lite”, our veteran transport reporter tells all.
Synopsis: The Straits Times offers expert insights if you are in the market for a new vehicle or are tracking transportation trends.
In the second part of the conversation, COE Watch host Lee Nian Tjoe hosts long-time senior transport correspondent at The Straits Times - Christopher Tan - to talk about how he got into journalism, and what has been driving him all these years.
Highlights (click/tap above):
2:00 On how Chris Tan once found out how much it cost to build the Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway
5:30 Chris recalls when he first raised the idea of the bus contracting model way before it was started, to help raise service levels
7:00 Debates on building a new MRT line: Why the Rail Financing Framework is good for the overall network
9:00 “Build ‘em and they will come”; positive knock-on effects
14:00 Why it is fair for Singaporeans to expect more from the public transport system
17:37 Christopher Tan retiring from full-time work end-July 2024; his plans
Listen to Pt 1 of Lee Nian Tjoe's conversation with Chris Tan here: https://str.sg/3EEQd
Why non-drivers are also paying the price of high COEs
Saison 1 · Épisode 14
mercredi 24 juillet 2024 • Durée 37:27
A veteran transport reporter tells us what can be done to bring down COE prices and how to buy a new car.
Synopsis: The Straits Times offers expert insights if you are in the market for a new vehicle or are tracking transportation trends.
In the first of a two-part conversation, COE Watch host Lee Nian Tjoe speaks with Christopher Tan, senior transport correspondent at The Straits Times, to get a grip of the current COE system.
He also shares his journey as a veteran reporter, having been with SPH since 1983. This was four years before Singapore had its first MRT Line, and before the Land Transport Authority was established.
He also offers tips on how to shop for a car and recounts some of his most memorable drives, having tested more than 3,000 cars and counting.
Highlights (click/tap above):
3:00 Why newsmakers are often wary of Christopher Tan from The Straits Times
6:00 Recounting his “embarrassing” first car review
12:00 How electric vehicle adoption will peak around the world
16:10 What flying a helicopter is like
26:00 Reviewing a car fairly for the reader, not the car company
27:55 The impact of high COE prices on drivers and non-drivers alike
Listen to Pt 2 of Lee Nian Tjoe's conversation with Chris Tan here: https://str.sg/9y73
Produced by: Lee Nian Tjoe (niantjoel@sph.com.sg), Ernest Luis, Hana Chen and Teo Tong Kai
This car-sharing service managed to convince the government to allow them to match private car owners to hirers.
Synopsis: The Straits Times offers expert insights if you are in the market for a new vehicle or are tracking transportation trends.
Car-sharing causes traffic congestion because the cars are more heavily used; the cars tend to be abused by the hirers; and in the event of an accident, the insurance excess to pay will be stratospheric - beliefs that Mr Dirk-Jan Ter Horst disagrees with.
The Dutch co-founder of peer-to-peer car sharing platform Drive lah, which has been matching private car owners to hirers since 2019, speaks with host Lee Nian Tjoe to make sense of it all.
Highlights (click/tap above):
4:02 Using data to convince the Land Transport Authority that peer-to-peer car-sharing works.
13:20 The secret ingredient to running a “two-sided marketplace”.
22:59 Driving a rental car into Malaysia
25:50 Why a resident in Marine Parade hires a car in Jurong.
35:01 Being a good host
43:14 The goal is to make cars accessible to the public.
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