One of China’s richest cities has issued restrictions on new car sales, highlighting another constraint on growth for an industry already feeling the effects of the country’s slowing economy.
Shenzhen, in southern Guangdong province, was the last of China’s four “tier-one” cities — large urban clusters with high per capita gross domestic product figures — to limit the issuance of new licence plates, following moves by Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Under the rules, announced on Monday and effective immediately, only 100,000 licence plates will be issued annually in Shenzhen via auctions and lotteries. About 3.1m private cars are registered in the city of 15m people.