The Department of Land Transport’s auction of “auspicious” vehicle licence plate numbers on Saturday produced the highest-ever winning bid at 45.09 million baht for plate number “9 Kor Kor 9999”.
A total of 64 licence plates were up for auction on Saturday and another 237 will be offered on Sunday.
The highlight came when bidders engaged in a fierce competition to secure “9 Kor Kor 9999”, with 202 bids made in total. The bidders included people who attended the live auction in the department’s conference room and those who made phone or online bids.
The final bid of 45.09 million baht was from Titan Capital Group Holding, an investment firm. It shattered the previous record of 28.1 million baht for “8 Kor 8888” set in October 2020.
According to media reports, the winning bidder said the firm was intent on securing the licence plate even though the price was slightly over its budget.
Proceeds from the auction will go to the Road Safety Fund.
The word for nine in Thai is kao, which is a homophone for the word walk in Thai, suggesting prosperity and moving forward.