It is said that the number of corporate vehicle registrations decreased by 27.7% in the first half of this year. The number of representative corporate vehicles such as Genesis G90 and Mercedes-Benz S-Class decreased. There may be several factors, but it seems that the large decrease was largely due to the introduction of the lime-colored license plate that went into effect in January of this year.
The new design of the high-priced corporate vehicle license plate is fluorescent lime green. Usually, license plates are black and white or have low saturation, so our eyes can guess the degree, but the saturation and brightness are high, so we can tell at a glance without even realizing it. It does not match the color of the vehicle, so it looks like it is floating in the air.
Vehicles over 80 million won, long-term rental cars, leased vehicles, and vehicles purchased from dealers must use lime-colored license plates. Existing vehicles do not have to be changed. Green is applied first to eco-friendly vehicles such as electric and hydrogen vehicles over 80 million won. It is based on the factory price submitted by the manufacturer to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. For used cars, the standard taxable amount used when calculating acquisition tax is the standard.
Looking at the previous license plate designs, you can see how groundbreaking this license plate is. Before 2006, the license plate was green. It was used for 30 years, starting in 1973. You can often see it in content set in the past. After that, the license plate changed to a long white color. A reflective film-type license plate with a hologram, Taegeuk pattern, and KOR letters to prevent forgery was also added.
Eco-friendly vehicles will be required to have blue license plates starting in 2017. Transportation vehicles such as buses, taxis, and courier vehicles have yellow license plates with regional names because their business areas are defined. Heavy equipment vehicles have license plates similar to transportation vehicles but in a darker orange color. Diplomatic vehicles are labeled with names such as 'Diplomatic', 'Consular', and 'Extra Foreign' instead of regional names, depending on where the vehicle is owned.
