New car license plates for Putrajaya and KL

KUALA LUMPUR: A new prefix of registration number — "F" and "V" — will be assigned for Putrajaya and Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur vehicles in June and July respectively.
Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Aziz Kaprawi told theSun that the "F" prefix was selected for the administrative capital after receiving request from Putrajaya Corporation (PPj) recently.
"'F' means Federal. Starting June 1, 'F' will be the new Putrajaya's number plate," he said, adding that a tender bidding notice for golden number (one digit) will be issued by Road Transport Department (RTD) towards end of this month.
"For Kuala Lumpur, RTD will introduce 'V' probably after Hari Raya as the new series, to make it easier for public and encourage car owners to bid for golden number, fancy numbers (two digit) and popular numbers (four digit)," he added.
The current sequence for KL with prefix, algorithm and alphabet, was rolled out with "W 1 A" in Sept 2013 after the previous generation of prefix ended.
Interestingly, Aziz said, public was more comfortable with the previous simple prefix and number sequence of 1 to 9999 unlike the current prefix.
"This is based on massive decline in bidding for the current KL number plate sequence. So I hope with 'V', it will get people excited" he pointed out.
RTD director-general Datuk Seri Ismail Ahmad said the "V" prefix for KL will replace the current prefix which will be retired in stages beginning mid July.
Commenting on Putrajaya's new prefix, Aziz said "F" was chosen despite PPj suggestion for 'Putrajaya', to be followed by algorithm and ends with an alphabet.
"The suggestion was complicated because it will be too long to fit in the number plate and so 'F' is the best option," he explained.
Besides, he said, "F" and "V" are yet to be utilised as number plate prefixes in the country.
As of today, the latest registration number for KL was WC 3974 V.
With the new prefix for Putrajaya, Aziz expects bidding frenzy for "F 1" registration plate.
The deputy minister said: "In the UK, a Yorkshire businessman declined an offer of 6 million pound sterling (RM34.7 million) two years ago to buy the 'F 1' registration plate which he purchased at 440,000 pound sterling (RM2.5 million) as registration number for his Bugatti Veyron in 2008."
"I think many Ferrari owners will be queuing up to bid for the single alphabet of 'F' (number plate)," said Aziz in a jest.
Meanwhile, RTD will announce the opening date of tender for "F 1" next week.
"We will open the bidding tender probably for two weeks plus another two-week process for the special committee to finalise the bidding," said Ismail.
The highest prices of bidding for number plates ever recorded in RTD history were RM520,000 for "WWW 1" and RM748,000 for "W 1 N" by Johor ruler Sultan Ibrahim Almarhum Sultan Iskandar in 2012 and 2014 respectively.