SINGAPORE – Car showrooms in shopping malls are becoming a common sight, with nine out of 13 opening in the last 18 months, and at least one more slated to open in Bedok later in 2026.

Dealers are no more simply banking on buyers making the trip to showrooms in established car retail belts like Leng Kee, Ubi and Alexandra.

Instead, the car dealers open shop in malls, and try to boost sales by clinching deals with shoppers and diners who may not be actively looking to buy a car.

There is also pressure from competitors to open as many outlets as possible, whether in malls or commercial buildings, sources said.

Chinese car giant BYD, for instance, shows no signs of slowing down on its mall showroom spree. Its latest, in Tampines 1 mall, launched on July 21, taking its total to 11 outlets, stretching from Punggol to Jurong.

Vantage Automotive managing director Adelene Tan said the firm – the BYD distributor in Singapore – will continue to expand the brand’s retail footprint and go to consumers directly where they live and work, as well as tap “non-car” experiences.

For instance, at the Tampines outlet, there are activities like matcha-making workshops to increase footfall in the showroom.

Tan said the aim is for the Tampines outlet alone to sell about the same number of cars as Singapore’s 15th top-selling brand. Based on the 2025 annual new car registration data, that figure is about 650 units a year.

Authorised dealer BYD by 1826 – one of four appointed by Vantage – also runs restaurantsat the its carshowrooms in Zhongshan Mall in Balestier, Suntec City, Waterway Point and IMM in Jurong, which opened in February.

Data collected from diners is funnelled into the BYD marketing database. Any car sold through the dealership comes with $5,000 in dining credits.

Tesla – one of Singapore’s top-selling brands in 2025 – is opening a showroom in Bedok mall in the coming months. It will be the American electric vehicle behemoth’s third brick-and-mortar store in a Singapore mall. In opened its first store in Millenia Walk in 2022, and another in the Jurong East mall, Westgate, in October 2025.

Tesla declined to comment when asked about the Bedok mall store, but the brand name is splashed all over the construction site hoardings.

Tesla is opening a showroom in Bedok mall in the coming months.

ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG

As with all its other stores, anyone can walk in and test drive the cars. Those keen to buy one will have to go the Tesla website and make an online purchase.

Vincar, the distributor of Chinese electric car brand GAC Aion, opened two mall showrooms – one in Punggol Coast mall in Oct 2025 and another in PLQ Mall in Paya Lebar in May 2026. Its flagship showroom is in Leng Kee Road.

Vincar deputy chief executive Ernest Tan said the outlets help to raise its visibility.

The two Vincar showrooms in the malls receive over 1,500 visitors a month. That is a much higher number that those who go to the Leng Kee Road showroom, said Tan.

The mall set-ups do come with challenges, Tan added. PLQ, for instance, is not conducive for a test drive because of the carpark design and nearby traffic conditions.

Vincar said it rolled out extended unaccompanied test drives for customers to bring the cars home. In Punggol Coast mall, it sends text messages to pull in residents in the area.

Tan said the outlets are profitable, each selling at least 20 cars every month.

Chinese EV brand Dongfeng in April opened a showroom at Suntec City Mall, which has more walk-in traffic than appointments, and accounts for between 20 per cent and 30 per cent of monthly sales.

Dongfeng’s showroom at Suntec City Mall has more walk-in traffic than appointments, and accounts for between 20 per cent and 30 per cent of monthly sales.

PHOTO: VOLT AUTO

Audi and Porsche are the only two European car brands that now have showrooms in mixed developments, where residential, retail, and leisure facilities are found in one place.

Audi moved to Cross Street Exchange in Chinatown in late-2024, while Porsche opened a showroom in Guoco Midtown in Beach Road in February 2024.

A Porsche spokesman said the German marque’s move is in line with the brand’s global efforts to be closer to customers. Similar showrooms are found in cities like Seoul in South Korea, and the goal is to elevate the brand experience to be as important as the cars Porsche sells, he added.

Porsche opened a showroom in Guoco Midtown in Beach Road in February 2024.

PHOTO: LIANHE ZAOBAO

About 60 per cent of visitors to the Porsche showroom on weekdays have an appointment. On weekends, walk-ins make up about 55 per cent of visitors.

Audi managing director Martin Bayer said the brand has held more than 20 events at its Chinatown showroom in the first year since it opened, including car launches, motorsport screenings and corporate events.

Associate Professor Lewis Lim, who teaches marketing at Nanyang Technological University’s Nanyang Business School, said showrooms in shopping malls align with car brands’ ambitions to be “omnipresent” in the consumer’s lives and help cultivate future buyers.

“Even just being frequented as a social meeting place for a coffee and a bagel is a plus for the brand in terms of enhancing mindshare,” Lim added.

Associate Professor (practice) Victor Kwan, from the Singapore University of Social Sciences, said mall showrooms are common in Thailand and China but commercial rental rates are nowhere near those in Singapore.

Kwan added that he does not believe that the surge of mall showrooms now in Singapore is a sign that the business model is viable. Instead, it is the result of growing pressure from global car brands to increase market presence.

He said: “If the goal is only to gain awareness, dealers can simply put up a banner at a mall or run a temporary road show, which would be much cheaper.”