Shanghai plate prices surge

Car license plate prices in Shanghai hit a record high this month, exceeding 60,000 yuan ($9,540) for the first time since the license plate auction policy was launched in the city in 1994, according to data released over the weekend by auction organizer Shanghai Commodity International Co.

The average price of a license plate this month rose to 61,626 yuan, up 3,001 yuan from March. The lowest individual bid price also hit a record, rising to 61,000 yuan this month.

The city government released 8,500 new license plates this month, 500 more than last month, for 22,706 individuals registered in the auction.

"It's too expensive to buy a license plate in Shanghai. The money needed to buy a plate is actually enough to buy a car, such as a Chery Windcloud. I drive my car around Shanghai with a license plate from another city," Liu Yang, a Shanghai resident, told the Global Times Sunday.

"Plate scalpers resell the plates to ordinary people at a higher price, which contributes to the continuous rise in license plate prices in Shanghai," Gu Jin, an analyst with consulting company LMC Automotive, told the Global Times Sunday.

It used to be common for Shanghai residents to register their cars in a nearby province, thus avoiding the auction fees. But some provinces have implemented more strict regulations in recent years to prevent Shanghai residents from registering there, according to Gu.

There are also certain restrictions in the city for cars with non-Shanghai plate numbers. For instance, they are banned from using overhead expressways at peak times during the day.

The government implemented the license plate auction policy in 1994, aiming to ease traffic jams and curb the number of vehicles driven in Shanghai.

The Shanghai government has said that the policy is a temporary plan to reduce the number of cars.

"It has been effective, and Shanghai's traffic situation is better than that of the capital," Zhang Yu, managing director of Shanghai-based Automotive Foresight Co, told the Global Times Sunday.

But the policy is not fair for ordinary customers who can't afford so much for a license plate, Zhang said. "Developing public transportation is the right way to solve the traffic jam and environmental pollution problems ultimately," Zhang noted.

Other cities have also launched policies to restrict vehicle numbers. Beijing imposed a lottery system to distribute license plates among auto buyers in 2010.

The number of applicants for car registration in Beijing declined in April for the first time as a new measure was launched in January this year requiring applicants to renew their applications every three months.

Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou Province, became the third city in China to implement a car purchasing restriction policy in July last year.