The average successful bidding price for a car number
plate in Shanghai continued to rise this month, despite moves to
change the auction system to make it fairer.?
But the proposed plan did favor some buyers as the lowest
successful bidding saw a sharp decline for the first time since
July this year.
At the weekend auction of car plates for private use in
Shanghai, the average successful bidding price climbed by 1,725
yuan (234 US dollars) to hit a record high of 56,042 yuan.
However, the minimum payment was auctioned at 50,000 yuan, a
drop of 3,800 yuan or seven percent from a month earlier, according
to Shanghai International Commodity Auction Co, the organizer of
the monthly event.
The local government put 7,500 car plates up for sale this
month, the same amount as last month while the number of bidders
also remained almost unchanged at 10,356.
In the middle of this month, Chen Qiwei, a spokesman for the
city government, said Shanghai will adopt a new car plate auction
system early next year that aims to prevent the bidding prices from
being manipulated by car dealers.
Car sellers used to give advice on the bidding prices to auto
buyers and some deliberately put up higher offers for car plates to
seal a successful bid, a move to help them sell cars to buyers.
"The bidding prices have been different this time as we are told
not to offer advice on the bidding price," said a seller surnamed
Gong from Jinjiang Toyota Sales Co Ltd.
"But the lowest bidding could be an exception and the price will
see a slow boom because of high demand in a long term."
Other dealers, however, disagreed. "This may be a signal that
the price could slide because of the government's firm intention to
stop prices soaring," another dealer from Shanghai General Motors
Co Ltd said.?
(Shanghai Daily December 25, 2007)
