Hong Kong Number Plate News

It certainly has been a busy couple of weeks here at Regtransfers so apologies that I've not updated this for a while.

I didn't get a chance to blog that a number plate in Hong Kong sold for £150,000 just after the Chinese New Year. OK so that was a while ago but still worth noting.

It was at a Hong Kong auction on February 7th February 2009 that the number plate "2318" with a reserve of $52,000 HKD (approximately £4670) soared to $1.7 million HKD (£152,000). Why so much? Any self-respecting Chinese person knows the significance of numbers. The numbers "2318" when spoken sound like "yee sam yat baat" meaning "easy life and prosperity" in Cantonese. The bidding was between an unknown woman and Mr Liang Qiwei. The woman was the eventual winner of the registration.

Mr Liang, a former race horsing king, was not to be outdone and bought '3218' for $750,000 HKD (£67,000) and also 'MY8' at $440,000 HKD (£39,000). The number plates are gifts for his sons and even after spending the equivalent of £106,000, considers the purchase to be a bargain. He says, "I can easily pay $2 million HKD to $3 million HKD for a horse. So what I paid for the licence plate numbers is nothing in comparison.”

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