SAABSTANCE Singapore

Hello and greetings from Singapore!

Firstly, will like to congratulate the new refreshed SAABSUNITED page as well as the new Svenska Saabklubben Team for taking over this fabulous site that all SAAB Fanatics globally have grown to love and to appreciate over the years.

Personally used to have had the pleasure of 5 SAABs and it has been nothing short of an exciting journey and relatively fuss free.

MY 01 SAAB 9-5 2.0t

MY 06 SAAB 9-5 SC 2.0t

MY 00 SAAB 9-5 2.3T HOT AERO

MY 06 SAAB 9-3 SC 2.0T VECTOR

MY 08 SAAB 9-3 SS 2.0T AERO – VRN “360” as you may have seen in some photos

Will be showcasing to you some images taken by yours truly as well as a short write up of Singapore. Scroll on!

A post here as a shoutout to the global community here from the sunny tropical island of Singapore where SAABSTANCE was formed over 10 years ago and still continues to remain strong and core to the SAAB Community.

Some of you may know or have seen some of our photos from Singapore. We are a very tightly knitted community in Singapore due to the rarity of SAABs here. There are currently less than 800 SAABs in Singapore amidst a population of about 500,000+ cars in our little island. So seeing one is really refreshing and also an exciting moment for a SAAB driver here.

Some of you also might have heard that we have one of the most expensive cars in the world. Just for reference. Let us just take the world’s most common car – Toyota Corolla.

In Singapore, the cost of a Toyota Corolla is 6x MORE than the US. So you can imagine …

USA – $USD 16,230
Singapore – $USD 105,300

Another unfortunate thing is that we are only limited to a lifespan of ONLY 10 years for our cars in Singapore. The government wants to promote renewal of newer cars and most of the cars here are scrapped or exported out after 10 years of service in Singapore. That is really unfortunate as many cars here are still in pristine condition at 10 years and have not travelled much due to our small topography.

Most of the SAABs you see in the photos – 9-3s are on average about 7 years in age and are still in really mint condition. As such, most of the SAABs that do get a second lease of life as they are re-exported out to other RHD markets globally or get cannibalised for parts.

If you do want to keep your vehicle, you may have the option to renew the COE (Certificate of Entitlement – 5 / 10 years). This is a piece of paper by the government that is issued to certify ownership of the vehicle for another 5 or 10 years upon renewal and is currently priced at $USD 35,972 currently for a renewal of 10 years or $USD 17,986 for 5 years.

This will sound insane to many but it is what it is here in Singapore where car is considered a luxury item and the government is slowly pushing towards a “Car-Lite” society.

That however does not deter most enthusiasts and many will do what they can to see the SAAB flag flying for many years to come. Hope you enjoyed this short write-up and to also understand a little piece of history and fun facts of our sunny little island.

Looking forward to sharing more visuals with the community as for me – “A picture paints a thousand words”

Abel

SAABSTANCE SINGAPORE – http://www.saabstance.com/

ABEL | ART – https://www.facebook.com/abelartsg/?ref=bookmarks