1 in 80 Beijingers have chance in car lottery

Only one in 80 Beijing residents have the chance to win a car plate in this month's lottery, marking the lowest rate since the scheme was launched in 2011, chinanews.com reported Monday.

As many as 1.47 million applicants will vie for 18,457 license plates for small passenger cars (not more than nine seats), 40,000 more applicants than last month, according to a website managing the system.

Applications submitted before the eighth day of each month go into the lottery held on the 26th day of the month.

The municipal government introduced the lottery in January 2011 to curb car numbers by capping the total number of car registrations at 240,000, with 88 percent for small passenger cars. The quota will stay the same in 2013.

Beijing has a permanent population of around 20 million and some 5.2 million vehicles, with the number of private cars still on the rise.