SHANGHAI, Sep 11 (SMM) – Guiyang, capital city of Guizhou province in Southwest China will expand its 2019 car license plate quota by over 30,000 from 2018, in a bid to boost vehicle sales in a sluggish market.

This came after the southern Chinese metropolis of Shenzhen in June announced plans to add 40,000 vehicle plates in both 2019 and 2020.

Early this year, central authorities urged big cities to relax restrictions on vehicle purchases to boost the car market. The China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) said on Monday that passenger vehicle sales in China dropped 9.9% from a year ago in August.

A number of Chinese provinces and cities in China, including Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang and Hainan, are still implementing vehicle purchase restrictions.

The loosening of the restrictions by a number of regions grows the expectations that China will broadly scrap limitations on car purchases.