Shanghai license plates (沪牌) — what they are

Shanghai plates (沪牌, hù pái) come with a famous quirk: the city controls the supply of plates through an auction system, which makes some plates extremely valuable — and restricts where other plates can drive.

The basics for cars:

• 沪A/沪B (and most 沪D-F etc.) auctioned plates: full city access. Auctioned monthly, with recent winning bids in the tens of thousands of RMB (the exact price fluctuates; the auction is open to individuals and companies, including foreigners with the right documents).
• 沪C plates: cheap (a few thousand) but banned from the city center — outer districts only.
• Foreign plates (外牌): restricted from central roads at peak hours (早晚高峰限行), which makes them impractical for daily city driving.
• New-energy vehicles (NEV): historically exempt from the auction — the government gives free NEV plates, subject to policy that has tightened over the years.

The basics for motorcycles (see the motorcycle guide):

• 沪A yellow (large bikes) — required for downtown riding; no longer issued, so it trades secondhand at very high prices (hundreds of thousands of RMB).
• 沪A blue (≤50cc small bikes) — also limited and pricey.
• 沪C yellow/blue — cheap but outer districts only.

For most expats, the pragmatic answers are: rent/use company cars with plates, buy an NEV (policy permitting), or accept 沪C/outer-district driving for motorcycles.