The parallel import market soared from an industry low a few years ago to a bumper year in 2006, but only two familiar brands reaped the biggest gains: Toyota and Honda.

These two Japanese makes have traditionally led the grey market, or new cars offered by those who are not authorised agents or distributors. But last year, their numbers jumped substantially to an all-time high (see table).

According to the Land Transport Authority (LTA), parallel imports (PI) of Toyota cars more than doubled to 10,634 units in 2006 from 4,424 units in 2005, with the brand accounting for about two-thirds of the total 16,137 grey imports last year. Honda came in second in the PI ranking, with its 4,094 units more than triple the previous year's 1,256 units and accounting for a quarter of the total PI market in 2006.

Coming in at a distant third in the brand rankings was Suzuki with 664 units, although this was already a big increase from its 2005 tally of 63 units.

There are about 100 companies here offering PI cars. Keen pricing, high trade-in and overtrades, and models not available in the official agent's showroom helped to propel PI sales of both Toyota and Honda.

The most popular Toyota model from a PI was the Wish MPV - a 1.8-litre compact seven-seater not available from authorised distributor Borneo Motors. According to the LTA, 6,628 units were registered, making up two out of every five PI cars bought last year.

The second most popular PI model was the Honda Fit, with 1,128 units of this Japanese domestic model (JDM) sold, although the export version, the made-in-Japan Jazz, is available from Kah Motor.

The third most popular model was the Toyota Rush at 713 units. This 1.5-litre compact SUV is not offered by Borneo although its mechanically identical sibling, the Daihatsu Terios, can be found at agent Sin Tien Seng.

Other models that could be bought from their agents but which still chalked up good PI sales were the 690 units of Toyota Estima - a JDM version of the Previa - and 540 units of Toyota Camry, a JDM car unlike Borneo's Thai-made version.

After tough government action on rampant under-declaration and other high jinks, the PI scene appeared to be on the verge of collapse in 2004 when the number of PI cars fell to about 4,000, from 2003's estimated 7,500 units.

The plunge took place despite overall growth in the passenger car market, thanks to burgeoning quotas of COEs. But 2005 marked a turnaround in PI fortunes with 6,282 units, culminating in the 2006 boom of 16,137.

LTA says a total of 116,849 new cars were registered last year, which means the PI market alone accounted for an unprecedented 13.8 per cent of total volume.

Meanwhile, members of the Motor Traders Association of Singapore (MTA) accounted for 98,729 units, or 84.5 per cent of total cars. Among MTA members last year, Toyota continued to be the clear market leader with 24,696 units; Nissan was second with 14,756 units; and Honda was third with 10,823, nudging Hyundai into fourth place with 10,013.