The investment marks the platform’s broader shift towards a hybrid taxi and private-hire model
[SINGAPORE] ComfortDelGro will invest more than S$10 million to boost its private-hire vehicle (PHV) fleet with BYD’s hybrid and electric vehicles (EVs), it said on Thursday (Aug 20).
The vehicles will be supplied by Vantage Automotive, the authorised distributor of the Chinese EV giant in Singapore.
“We have seen strong demand from our hirers for PHVs, and this investment reflects our commitment to meeting those needs,” said Michael Huang, ComfortDelGro’s head of Singapore point-to-point mobility.
The investment marks Zig’s broader shift towards a hybrid taxi and private-hire model, as it transforms its point-to-point business from a taxi-led operator to a hybrid fleet and platform model, said ComfortDelGro.
With the purchase of the BYD vehicles, Zig will increase its fleet network beyond its current count of about 7,600 taxis.
The announcement comes just a week after the company reported a 19.7 per cent fall in first-half net profit, attributed largely to a sharp drop in its taxi and private-hire business. Operating profit for that segment dropped more than 40 per cent year on year to S$35.5 million.
ComfortDelGro CEO Cheng Siak Kian told The Business Times ahead of the results that the company knew it needed to improve its taxi and private-hire business. It has been increasing its private car rental fleet in Singapore to account for the slowing demand for taxi rentals, he added.
The strategy is gaining traction. Zig’s private-hire driver base rose 28 per cent in 2025, and it now has more than 4,000 active private-hire drivers on its platform. To support this growing fleet, the new BYD cars – which will comprise a mix of fully electric and hybrid models, including the BYD Seal 6 DM-i and BYD M6 – will be progressively introduced and made available to hirers in the coming months.
Hirers will also have access to preferential charging rates through newly rebranded sister company CDG Energy and maintenance support from ComfortDelGro Engineering’s network of automotive-service workshops.
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Fleet expansion accelerates
ComfortDelGro has accelerated the expansion of its PHV fleet, which increased to 700 vehicles from 600 at end-2025, said DBS in a Tuesday note.
The move comes amid “strong consumer preference for PHVs, driven by greater flexibility and the high cost of vehicle ownership due to elevated (Certificate of Entitlement) prices”, the bank noted.
COE prices have remained elevated in the recent bidding rounds.
In the latest round, premiums for Category A, applicable to mainstream cars, increased by 3.7 per cent to S$128,501, just shy of its all-time high of S$129,000 in July. Category B premiums, for larger or more powerful cars, were up 0.8 per cent at S$131,001, while premiums for Category E – the open category – rose by 3.1 per cent to S$135,000.
Amy Khor, the former senior minister of state for transport, had said in March 2025 that Singapore will not introduce a separate COE category for PHVs. The bulk of demand for Category A and B COEs – passenger cars – had been from local individuals instead, she had added.
