The southern Chinese city of Shenzhen has announced a car purchasing restriction1 requiring buyers to get new car plates by lottery2 or auction3.
中国南方城市深圳发布汽车限购令,买家需通过摇号或者拍卖才能获得汽车牌照。
The announcement does come as a bit of surprise, after authorities had for two years repeatedly denied that it was even considering such a move.
Starting from 6 p.m. yesterday, 100-thousand new vehicle plates will be offered every year in the city, including 20-thousand reserved for electric cars.
The number may be adjusted later based on road capacity and air pollution.
Traffic restriction measures will also be
enacted4 in some of the city's busiest districts.
Xu Wei is the deputy head of the municipal traffic police bureau.
"Except for roads to the ports, other roads will forbid vehicles with non-Shenzhen plates during both morning and evening rush hours on weekdays in four
administrative5 districts of Futian, Luohu, Nanshan, and Yantian."
For more on this, we are now joined live by Gao Shang,
analyst8 with Beijing-based Guantong
Futures9.