Reg Plates Slogans Updated

Canberra really is "The Bush Capital" – at least according to our new number plate slogan.

The city's long-time nickname claimed more than 1600 votes and beat out "Ngunnawal Country" (1058 votes) and "Driving the Nation" (479 votes) to become the new catchcry of the territory's number plates.

Meanwhile, the widely mocked "Feel the Power of Canberra" will be phased out along with four others after Canberrans voted overwhelmingly to keep "Canberra – The Nation's Capital" out of the existing five slogans.

"Age Friendly City" attracted just 45 votes to be the most unpopular slogan on offer, while "Feel the Power of Canberra" fared a little better, with 383 votes.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr announced the new slogan on Tuesday after a long-running public voting competition that inspired both delight and derision nationwide.

The government received almost 2000 suggestions for a new slogan after opening submissions last October.

After almost a month of polling, and more than 8000 votes, the three leading slogans were 'Canberra - The Bush Capital', 'Canberra - Ngunnawal Country' and 'Canberra - Driving the Nation'.

Among the existing plates, 'Canberra - The National Capital', 'Canberra - Heart of the Nation' and the Parliament House image were the hot favourites.

"Canberrans will be able to choose between the two slogans when they come into circulation later this year," Mr Barr said in a statement.

"I'm encouraged by the enthusiasm of Canberrans who engaged in this process and the Government will look at further ways we can have similar discussions with the community in the future."

"Canberra – the Nation's Capital" has remained the territory's most popular plates despite being around since 1979, still decorating more than 133,000 vehicles.

"Canberra – Heart of the Nation" is the slogan of choice for almost 59,000 vehicles, while nearly 43,000 read "Celebration of a Century".

The new number plate slogan will go into circulation later this year.

New number plate slogan:

Canberra – The Bush Capital (1671 votes, 38 per cent)
Ngunnawal Country (1058 votes, 24 per cent)
CBR – Driving the Nation (479 votes, 11 per cent)
CBR – Australia's Cool Capital (366 votes, 8 per cent)
Australia's Meeting Place (315 votes, 7 per cent)
CBR – For All Seasons (140 votes, 3 per cent)
CBR – Green and Clean (118 votes, 3 per cent)
CBR – City of Diversity (87 votes, 2 per cent)
CBR – Brilliant Possibilities (70 votes, 2 per cent)
CBR – An Active City (65 votes, 1 per cent)
Total votes : 4369

Existing plate slogan to keep:

Canberra – The Nation's Capital (2292 votes, 50 per cent)
Canberra – Heart of the Nation (1101 votes, 24 per cent)
Parliament House (image) (746 votes, 16 per cent)
Feel the Power of Canberra (383 votes, 8 per cent)
Canberra – Age Friendly City (45 votes, 1 per cent)

So what are the top selling number plates in the UK? The DVLA has been selling private plates to UK motorists since 1989. During this time, there have been a number of records set, but most of the top 10 have been bought in the past 15 years. Here’s what currently makes the list:

25 0 – A Ferrari dealer bought this for £518k in 2014. It is now on a £10 million Ferrari 250 SWB.
F 1 – A businessman, Afzal Khan, bought this for £440k in 2008 and put it on his McLaren-Mercedes SLR.
S 1 – This was bought in 2008 for £404k by an anonymous buyer.
1 D – Businessman Nabil Bishara bought this plate in 2009 (before One Direction was formed, so it is not a reference to the band) for £352k.
M 1 – Businessman Mike McCoomb bought this number plate in 2006 for £331k, apparently for his son, who was 10 at the time.
VIP 1 – Chelsea owner and businessman Roman Abramovich bought this plate for £285k in 2006.
51 NGH – This number plate, which looks like the surname Singh, was sold in 2006 for £254k.
1 RH – Businessman Robert Haverson bought this in 2006 for £247k.
K1 NGS – This reg plate, which looks like the word “kings”, was bought anonymously in 1993 for £231k.
1 0 – This very simple but striking number plate was bought anonymously in 2009 for £170k.

These are large amounts of money, but they are all small compared to the top-selling number plates found in other parts of the world. Abu Dhabi, in the UAE, has the record for the most expensive number plate ever sold. That number plate was a simple “1”. It was bought in 2008 by businessman Saeed Abdul Ghaffar Khouri for £7.25 million.

number plates