Welcome to Black License Plate Mania In Beijing Part 8 (Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7), where we look at cars with black license plates in the Chinese capital. On the first picture a BMW 3-Series sedan with some M-bits with 京A·02230.
A Dongfeng-Nissan Teana with 京A·28068.
The famous black license plates were issued to foreign owned companies from the 1980’s to the mid 00’s. These companies could buy a car locally, or import one. There were no limits on the number of cars, or on price, or engine type. The numbering started at 京A·00001, and then up. So the lower the number the older the car. Any black plate beginning with 京A·0 or 京A·1 is considered ultra rare. I know, I had one too!
In the old days black-plated cars had some privileges comparable to diplomatic cars; no police officer would dare to stop them and they could basically park wherever they wanted without fear of a fine. Nowadays, a black-plated car is counted just like all the others. The government does not issue new black plates anymore but those who have one can keep it until eternity. Other Chinese cities, including Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chengdu, had similar black plate license plate programs.
A Beijing-Hyundai Sonata with 京A·20719.
Special one here, seen in Beijing. It is a Lincoln Town Car from Tianjin with a Tianjin-black license plate: 津A·06835.
A Beijing-Jeep Cherokee 2500 with 京A·23961.
A Shanghai-GM Buick Regal sedan with 京A·34087.
A mighty Mercedes-Benz 600 SEL with 京A·01688.
A Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan with 京A·14058.
A BMW 530i with 京A·29388.
A perfect Beijing-Jeep Cherokee with 京A·21104.
A Suzuki Vitara JX with 京A·26014.
A Toyota Carina E with 京A·05863.
And we end where we started with another BMW: this one a rare BMW 325 is with 京A·03385.
My family used to own a black licensed 1991 Toyota Crown RoyalSaloon (MS132) in Guangdong