Beijing is seeing a surge in automobile sales this holiday season, with some 2,200 license plates being issued daily since mid December.

The Beijing Traffic Management Bureau said it usually issues about 1,000 license plates everyday.

The increased volume is putting a strain on local offices of the bureau, "We used to issue 200 license plates daily, but these days it's more like 400," said Wang Jianying, deputy director of the Jinghai substation of automobile administration.

The parking lot of his substation was packed with newly-bought vehicles. He said even more vehicles were expected in the afternoon rush as they form a queue that runs down the street.

There are 2.55 million automobiles and 3.92 million drivers in Beijing, according to latest statistics from the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau, which also estimates that 350,000 new automobiles will be sold in 2005.

Source: Xinhua