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R.C.
Madrid
Tuesday, 31 December 2024, 19:33
Automobile number plates were introduced in Spain in 1900 and, since then, the black and white registration plate has been the common distinguishing feature. Over the years three different systems have been used to number vehicle plates in the country: the provincial numeric, the provincial alphanumeric and the national alphanumeric. Interestingly, the mix of numbers and letters used nowadays still has room for at least 92 million combinations. However, it is estimated that by 2053 all of them will be taken.
It was the "Regulation for the service of motor cars on the roads" of 1900 that spoke of creating a provincial register to identify vehicles, but no uniform criteria were determined. This registration system could include one to three letters representing a province and up to six digits.
It was in 1971 that the numbering idea was restarted. This meant adding a letter and reducing the number of digits to four until registrations reached the letter Z, and then a second letter would be added. The end letters excluded the Ñ, Q and R, and the second end letter never used any vowels except for U.
In 2000 a four-digit, three-letter consonants-only registration number assigned at national level came into force. This meant that, for the first time ever, any reference to the province where the vehicle registration took place was eliminated and a single registration system was established for the whole of Spain.
Now, with the beginning of the new year, the registrations starting with M's will end and the N's begin. It was in August 2022 when number plates reached the series bearing the letter M, which starts with the combination MBB. Therefore it is expected that on or around 11 May 2025 we could see the first car with the NBB combination. Still, it all depends on the rate of car registrations.
This new system has also dispensed with vowels and some consonants to avoid confusion when reading a car's plate and also steering clear of any unfortunate words, especially any rude ones.
As the motoring fanatics from Canal Motor explain, if vowels were used there could be vehicles with the number plates of ETA, FBI, GAY or NGO... which are acronyms that could cause problems in some quarters. Similarly those combinations that resemble naughty words like ANO, PIS or PEO, for example.
In Spain the use of the letters Ñ and Q has long been restricted to avoid confusion in terms of reading them since the Ñ can be confused with the N and, from a distance, Q can be mistaken for an O.
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