Beijing License Plate

Sindy told me about this earlier. My first thought was to have her enter the lottery for me. I'll probably never drive in Beijing much less buy a car, but if I "win" the license lottery, I can definitely sell it to someone else. Leon had the exact same thought.

Beijing News (translation from Danwei)

Beijing introduces cap on new car registration

To alleviate urban traffic congestion, Beijing started a cap-and-lottery issuance system intended to curb automobile growth.

According to the new policy, starting on December 24th, Beijing will issue 240,000 new car license plates until the end of 2011. The plates will be allocated by a lottery system. Eligible applicants include Beijing residents, non-Beijing residents who have lived here for at least five year and paid tax, foreigners and companies. However, car owners are banned from applying for another license unless they sell or scrap their old vehicles.

Prior to announcement of the policy, Beijing had seen an eruption in car sales due to buyers' fear that they might not be able to get a license. Yesterday, the last day before the limit taking effect, over 9,000 units of vehicles were sold in Beijing, making the total number of automobiles exceed 4.8 million.

Dang... I'm not eligible. :)