More plates offered in Shanghai to replace old cars

The Shanghai city government will reportedly issue 109,850 car plates this year, 30% or 25,350 more than last year, as part of an effort to replace high emission vehicle with fuel efficient ones in anticipation of 2010 World Expo.

The growth of 30% is not a large volume for the city at all given that it has 300,000 units on road that are below Euro I limits.

Shanghai promised to take more fundamental steps to improve air quality for the sake of 2010 World Expo, such as requiring old high emission vehicles replaced with lower emission ones, but it will not close polluting companies in Shanghai and nearby cities to improve quality.

Shanghai has fewer motor vehicles than Beijing, partly thanks to its regulation of charging tens of thousands of yuan for auctioning a car plate. Local media reports that Shanghai had 720,000 private cars at the end of 2008, compared to 2.48 million private cars in Beijing.

Shanghai has resisted strong pressure from the national government to scrap its auction.
The city is unlikely to abolish the system in the near future as it wants to reduce pollution
and traffic congestion particularly with the 2010 Shanghai World Expo approaching.