Quora Answer: Given How Expensive Cars are in Singapore, Why are There No Cheaper Compact Cars on the Road?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Given how expensive cars are in Singapore, why are there no cheaper compact cars on the road, like the Volkswagen Up or Skoda Citigo?”

Since owning and maintaining a car is expensive, only those who can truly afford it tend to buy cars.  And if they can afford to buy cars in a tax environment that penalises car ownership, they can afford to buy luxury cars.  It seems paradoxical, but once the bar is raised so high, it prices low end vehicles out of the market because they are targeted at a market demographic that is no longer served in such an environment.