Shanghai car plate bid price hits 7-month low

Shanghai, September 22 (Gasgoo.com) Figures released by the Shanghai International Commodity Auction (SICA) indicate that the car registration plate prices have fallen sharply in September in Shanghai to a seven-month low, reflecting lower auto sales in the city, said xinhuanet.com today.

At the car plate auction for this month held by SICA on Saturday, both successful bids and overall bidding prices dropped. The average price of successful bids dropped to 31,788 yuan ($4,650), 4,672 yuan down off August prices. The lowest bidding price dropped to 29,300 yuan, 6,600 yuan lower than August.

It was the second lowest bid of the year, with 23,370 yuan as the first lowest bid price occurring in January when the new plate auction system was initiated. Shanghai has seen eight car plate bids this year and the highest bidding price was 37,659 yuan in April. Most car buyers and owners are expecting the plate price will continue its downturn with the auto market.

The local government increased the number of plates for sale to 6,500 in September. However, the number of bidders dropped 22% to 11,002, an all-time low this year against the 15,000 to 20,000 bidders in each of the previous months.

Analysts said the unexpected drop in the price and bidder number was a result of unusually fewer car sales in this season. They said customers are more cautious with their money now after hearing about global financial crisis, and hesitate in buying big-budget durables such as cars.

China's auto sales posted their first year-on-year drop in August. China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said sales fell 6.34% to 629,000 units. Passenger car sales fell 6.24% to 451,300 units while commercial vehicle sales fell 6.59% to 177,700 units.