It's just got harder to buy a car in Tianjin. Rising concern about air pollution has prompted the city to start limiting the number of new license plates, and the quota system went into effect today. But that's set off a wave of speculation that other cities might follow suit, sparking a car-buying frenzy around the country.
Ms. Xu finally gets a new car in Nanjing. But getting a license plate turns out to be harder than she thought.
“I drove straight from the dealer. But it’s been three hours and it’s still not my turn. I’ll have come back tomorrow.” Xu said.
“About eight hundred cars have been registered at our office alone each day over the past two days. That’s as many as the daily registrations for the whole city last year.” Zhang Meiling with Nanjing Vehicle Registration Office said.
The office says it’s processed more than 2,500 plates on peak days. This sudden surge of new cars has been driven by pure speculation.
“Tianjin’s started limiting the number of licence plates. It’s been really smoggy lately, so everyone thinks it might happen here too because of the environment.” Xu said.
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