Could we soon see GE NEVA, TI DYE, BE LIEVE and JU KNOW take to the streets of Switzerland? With places like Zurich and Geneva expected to run out of conventional number plates in the next few years, the Federal Roads Office (Astra) is moving to make personalised plates legal.
In Switzerland, number plates in each canton are assigned in chronological order from when a family or individual first registered their vehicle. This means that the original owner of VS 1 was the first driver to register a car in Canton Valais. Lower numbers are seen as a sign of prestige, hence why the lowest numbers often sell for hundreds of thousands of francs when they fall out of use and are re-auctioned.
However, the current system of licence plates only allows for six-digit numbers, meaning there is a finite supply of registrations to use. This poses a problem for cantons with larger populations like Vaud, Bern, Geneva and Zurich, with the latter expected to “run out” of plates and issue ZH 999999 by the end of 2026.
Therefore, Astra confirmed in a statement that it is looking to introduce personalised number plates or “vanity plates” in Switzerland. In what will cause dismay among those who paid thousands for unique plates at auction, the new system would allow drivers to freely choose a combination of letters and numbers, meaning anything from SG FONDUE to AG ERSATZBUS24 should be possible.
However, the Swiss cross and the cantonal flag and designation will remain mandatory, and swear words will not be allowed. Though likely, it is also unclear whether motorists would have to pay a fee to fit a vanity plate - though a spokesperson from the government of Canton Ticino has already told Blick that the plates would be sold rather than issued for free.
Other cantons are not certain that they will adopt personalised plates. Speaking to SRF on August 22, Federal Roads Office spokesperson Jérôme Jacky confirmed that Canton Zurich simply wished to add an extra digit to their number plates, meaning "the image of the license plate will actually be the same as it is today." However, they conceded that this is one of the many solutions being considered by both cantons and the federal authorities, and is not a final decision.
The Swiss government confirmed that it had given Astra permission to start designing the personalised plates, with the office promising the new design would be both “clear” and “easy to read”. If approved, the newly fitted plates will take to Swiss roads and motorways by 2027.
The idea of personalised number plates is not a new phenomenon: they are already legal for Austrian, Belgian and German drivers. For cantonal officials who worry that they would lose the income stream provided by number plate auctions, Belgian authorities sold 13.000 number plates in 2023 alone for around 1.000 euros a piece, raking in nearly 13 million euros.
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