Singaporean chip designer Eu Gene Goh is an electric-vehicle evangelist with two Teslas in the garage.

But the car-tech enthusiast is also not ready to give up his 1.6 million Singapore dollar ($1.21 million) McLaren 765LT with a V8 engine capable of hitting 100 kph in three seconds.

The city-state's bid to stop the purchase of combustion-engine cars from 2030 has bumped up against an entrenched love of supercars, ultra-luxury rides and buyers with enough income to keep them in one of the most expensive places in the world to own a car.