Recently, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport announced that in order to gradually meet the demand for car free households in Beijing, the city will increase the quota for 20000 new energy small buses targeted towards car free households. In fact, this is just a microcosm of the recent adjustment and optimization of car purchase restrictions in multiple cities. Why did these cities loosen their car purchase restrictions after years of implementation, and what impact will this have? Policy driven relaxation of car purchase restrictions in many regions. Since the beginning of this year, the national policy level has repeatedly proposed to relax car purchase restrictions. For example, in March, the State Council issued the "Action Plan for Promoting Large scale Equipment Renewal and Consumer Goods Trade in", which clearly proposed "optimizing automobile purchase restrictions according to local conditions"; The Action Plan for Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction from 2024 to 2025, issued by the State Council in May, explicitly proposes to gradually lift restrictions on the purchase of new energy vehicles in various regions; In June, the National Development and Reform Commission and five other departments issued the "Measures for Creating New Consumption Scenarios and Cultivating New Growth Points in Consumption", proposing to "encourage cities with purchase restrictions to relax vehicle purchase restrictions and increase car purchase quotas". Affected by this, cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Hangzhou, and Shenzhen that have implemented car purchase restrictions have recently begun to introduce optimization and adjustment measures to further implement the national decision-making and deployment on restoring and expanding consumption, effectively unleashing the potential of car consumption. In addition to Beijing's targeted issuance of 20000 new energy small car quotas for car free households, Tianjin has proposed to allocate 30000 ordinary car quotas for car free households. For applicants who have been struggling for a long time, 10000 ordinary car quotas will be allocated through a tiered lottery system. The next step will be to optimize and adjust regulatory policies in a timely manner based on relevant national policies and small car demand. Hangzhou City stated that individuals who meet the criteria, such as those who have been struggling for a long time, talents, families with multiple children, and key enterprises, can directly apply for the small bus quota, and will optimize regulatory policies in a timely manner. Guangzhou has explicitly stated that the annual quota for the increase of ordinary vehicles is 80000, which individuals and organizations can obtain through lottery or bidding; The incremental indicators for energy-saving vehicles and new energy vehicles can be directly applied for. Shenzhen introduced a new policy to cancel the social security limit for non Shenzhen registered residence personnel to apply for new energy car incremental indicators; Relax the conditions for individuals who only have one registered car in Shenzhen to apply for the incremental quota of hybrid cars. The relaxation of purchase restrictions is expected to stimulate the potential of automobile consumption. According to Cui Dongshu, Secretary General of the National Passenger Car Market Information Joint Committee, the characteristics of the new car market are that the vast majority of demand is concentrated in large, medium, and mega cities, which are also many cities with purchase restrictions. From a national perspective, cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Tianjin, Hangzhou, and Shenzhen are still implementing car purchase restrictions. To purchase a car, one needs to obtain license plate indicators through lottery, licensing, and other methods. However, not all of these cities have the highest car ownership. The latest data released by the Ministry of Public Security shows that as of the first half of 2024, there are 20 cities with a car ownership of 3-5 million vehicles, including Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, and Tianjin, which have purchase restrictions; The cities with 5-6 million vehicles are Shanghai, Suzhou, and Zhengzhou, with Shanghai having a purchase restriction; Cities with over 6 million vehicles include Chengdu, Beijing, and Chongqing, with Beijing having a purchase restriction. It is worth noting that some cities with no purchase restrictions have demonstrated enormous potential for automobile consumption. Taking Chengdu as an example, due to the absence of lottery, it has become one of the fastest-growing regions in China's automobile consumption. Public information shows that in 2003, the number of cars in Chengdu was only 345000; In 2015, it surpassed Chongqing and rose to the second place in the country; In August 2023, the number of automobiles exceeded 6.3 million, surpassing Beijing to become the top city. Based on this, Cui Dongshu believes that the current car ownership in some restricted cities has fallen far behind other non restricted cities. Nowadays, the relaxation of purchase restrictions is expected to stimulate the potential of automobile consumption, especially in some cities where the number of automobiles is seriously lagging behind due to purchase restrictions. There will be significant room for growth in automobile consumption. Can car purchase restrictions be completely lifted? Wang Du, Vice President of the China Automobile Dealers Association, stated that currently, China is accelerating the construction of a new development pattern of "dual circulation", and the Central Economic Work Conference has also clearly proposed to focus on expanding domestic demand. The restrictive policies that hinder the release of consumer demand in the consumption field, such as the car purchase restrictions still being implemented in some cities, should be eliminated. Considering factors such as stimulating the consumption potential of the domestic automobile market, the good development trend of China's new energy vehicle industry, and the environmentally friendly characteristics of new energy vehicles, some experts believe that relaxing car purchase restrictions can start with relaxing restrictions on the purchase of new energy vehicles. This viewpoint has received support in recent policies introduced in many places, such as Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, etc., which have made positive progress in relaxing restrictions on the purchase of new energy vehicles. From the perspective of promoting consumption, lifting restrictions on the purchase of new energy vehicles is an inevitable trend Cui Dongshu stated that cities with a car ownership of less than 4 million should not only lift restrictions on the purchase of new energy vehicles, but also relax restrictions on the purchase of fuel vehicles. He also stated that in mega cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, the number of cars is already very high, and urban traffic pressure is relatively high. Objectively, they do not have the conditions to completely lift purchase restrictions. In the view of Yuan Shuai, Executive Vice President of the Agricultural, Cultural and Tourism Industry Revitalization Research Institute of China Urban Development Research Institute, although relaxing purchase restrictions can stimulate car consumption to a certain extent, it also needs to comprehensively consider various factors such as urban traffic congestion, green environmental protection, and public transportation development. More comprehensive and holistic measures should be taken to balance the relationship between automobile consumption and urban development Yuan Shuai stated that measures such as strengthening urban transportation infrastructure, improving the quality and efficiency of public transportation systems, promoting new energy vehicles and environmental protection technologies can be taken to reduce the impact of automobiles on the environment; At the same time, measures such as adjusting tax policies and providing car purchase subsidies can be taken to stimulate automobile consumption. (New Society)