Since July 2014, cars producing 81kW to 97kW (about 109bhp to 130bhp) have to undergo testing on a chassis dynamometer to ensure they do not exceed the power cap for Cat A. In addition to that, the LTA would also cross-check technical information about the cars with its counterparts in other countries.
Because of this, cars can take up to four months to be approved (if at all). Previously, it took two to four weeks for a new model to be approved. This quadrupling of the time taken will result in higher cost for importers, who will have to incur heftier storage charges as well as fees for the dynamometer test. Eventually, this cost will be passed on to consumers.
And all this because the LTA wants to ensure that the power cap for Cat A cars is adhered to. Funnily, no similar measures are in place to ensure that declared figures on fuel economy, emission level, or body dimensions and weight are true. All these other figures are accepted at face value. So why the attention on the power cap? No one outside the LTA really knows.
But it may well be because certain continental manufacturers have quite quickly overcome the cap by introducing similar models with lower power outputs, thus making a mockery of a move designed to make Cat A fairer to buyers and sellers of mass-market models (which have in recent years been edged out by premium marques).
So, by dictating that sub-1600cc cars with outputs between 81kW and 97kW will have to undergo dynamometer testing and an approval process of up to four months, the LTA is putting in place a procedure which importers may just find too onerous. Hence they may just give up on bringing in such models. So in effect, the “new” power cap for Cat A is actually 81kW (109bhp).
There is, of course, a less disruptive and less costly way to enforce a power cap. The LTA could, for instance, carry out random post-registration audits. An importer with a car that fails the dynamometer test then will face hefty penalties. This will serve the purpose of enforcing the power cap without encumbering the whole industry. Or the LTA could simply replace the power criterion with a value criterion – which industry players and experts had recommended in the first place.
