In Surea, the Ministry of Industries of the national government issues vehicle registration plates for motor vehicles through Department of National Development and Transportation nationwide. However, the local municipality rather than the national government registers certain vehicles with small engine displacements. Broadly speaking, passenger automobiles with engine displacements less than 1600 cc receive 3-series plates, while passenger automobiles with gasoline engines having displacements of 1600 cc or more receive 5-series license plates. The number on the top line begins with a "5" or a "3" to indicate the series. Additional criteria include length, width and height of the vehicle. Official vehicles of the Armed Force, foreign diplomats, the U.S. military in Surea, etc. are exempt from the requirement to display such plates. These practice are less common as most of these official vehicles do display their plates.
The plates are installed in both the front and rear of the vehicle, with the rear plate permanently attached to the vehicle with a prefecture seal completely covering one of the attaching plate bolts. The plate is only removed when the vehicle has reached the end of service and has been sold for scrap. New vehicles are not delivered to the purchaser until the plates have been attached at the dealership. Surea does not use temporary registration. Recently, specific numbers can also be requested if the numbers are not already in use.
Appearance[]
Upon initial inspection, plates issued during this era seem to closely resemble those used in Japan. The plates are approximately the same width and height as North American or Japanese number plates. They measure 335 mm wide by 170 mm high for passenger vehicles, and 440 mm wide by 220 mm high for large trucks and buses. The information is arranged into two lines.
The first line, occupying the upper third of the plate, identifies the prefecture or city that issued the plate and the vehicle class.
A license plate in Surea thus follows this format: YY?** #### (e.g., 弘京500 5185), where YY is the name of the issuing office in Honju, ? is a 3 for vehicles less than 1600 cc and a 5 for vehicles greater than 1600 cc (other numbers are less common—1 for large trucks, 2 for buses, etc.), ** indicates the vehicle's class, is a number from 00 to 99, and # is a number from 0 to 9.
Only a small range of them that identify more specific vehicle types:
- Diplomat's cars: "diplomat" (使)
- Construction vehicles: "commerce" (建)
- National government vehicles: "nation" (囯)
- Police vehicle: "police" (警)
- Armed Forces vehicle: "military" (軍)
These plates have no prefecture/city name.
Vehicle class[]
The vehicle classes are as follows
- 00-69: passenger cars
- 70-79: vans
- 80-89: "freight vehicles" (trucks)
- 90-99: "specialized vehicles" (such as recreational vehicles)
Colours[]
- Private cars, government cars - gray with blue
- Taxis, cars for hire - yellow with black
- Construction vehicles - white and red border with red
- Diplomat's cars - green with white
- Military vehicle - gray with red