Prices of corporate-use automobile plates are on a par with the private car plates, according to the results of Shanghai's first public plate auction for corporate vehicles held yesterday afternoon on a trial basis.
With the lowest winning bid at 29,000 yuan (US$3,507), the prices average at 30,667 yuan, the Shanghai Morning Post reported. 
This compares to the lowest bid of 29,300 yuan and the average price of 30,033 yuan of the latest monthly private car plate auction held in September.
Two hundred plates were on auction yesterday, only open to governments and state-owned companies and organizations.
Shanghai is the country's first to try a public auction for plate issuance to corporate vehicles.  Currently, it holds a public auction only for private car plates in a bid to control traffic volumes.
In November, a second trial auction will be held, according to officials with Shanghai Urban Traffic Administration.  The authority plans to expand the auction system to all added corporate autos from next year as the city moves to reform its corporate-use auto administration system.
Nearly 70 percent of the bidders joined yesterday's auction via the Internet trading system and the rest used the phone service. No site-auction was availed.
Shanghai International Commodity Auction Co Ltd, the city's largest auction house, managed yesterday's auction.  It has helped the local traffic authority organize private auto plate auctions since 1994.