Shanghai car license plate bid success rate hits new low

The success rate of bidding at the Shanghai car plate auction this month dropped to a new low today- 5.5 percent - as the number of bidders shot through the roof to 135,677, the Shanghai International Commodity Auction Co said.

That number of bidders was 21,556 up from last month while the car plate supply was kept at the same level, 7,400 for private participants, as pre-set by the municipal government out of a quota of 100,000 for the whole year.

Today's auction was in place of the one held and declared invalid last Saturday when data interaction anomalies led to bidding system malfunctioning.

The average winning price for a Shanghai car plate this month was 73,896 yuan (US$11,830) , down 607 yuan from last month. The lowest bid dropped 600 yuan to 73,800 yuan. The first-round bids were kept under the price ceiling, which will be kept at 72,600 throughout the year.