05-02-2009

I discovered the explanation as to why Singapore cars all seem clean and new. The reason is that they are all new. It appears to be a complicated situation, but the gist is that Singaporeans must pay for a certificate of entitlement when purchasing their automobiles. This totals thirty to forty thousand dollars and I believe is why the population of drivers is so small. (The cars themselves are incredibly expensive as well.) This payment however only lasts ten years at which point the certificate must be renewed, possibly at a heftier price. For this reason most people elect to just buy a new car or trade in their old one. Also, cars are built with only a ten year lifespan in mind, so it is very rare to see a car that is older than this.

Something else I find unsurprising yet interesting is the complete lack of American cars. At least half of all automobiles are Toyota, the rest being mostly Asian with some European models mixed in. The buses are actually made by Volvo, which did surprise me; all the trucks and utility vehicles are Toyota. The models are almost all different too; I haven't seen a Prius or a Camry but there are a half dozen other Toyota models I had never heard of before coming here.

In the center of this photo is an example of one of the Singapore trucks I had mentioned earlier. It doesn't seem like there is any limit to the number of people that can sit in back for a ride. This one was a Toyota:

I make up for this fascinating material with another photo of the arts building: