Notice from the DGT: Car registrations will change in Spain in September

The General Directorate of Traffic (DGT) has announced changes in registrations in Spain which will come into force in September. The new format will see number plates beginning with the letter 'M', as well as new combinations of numbers and letters on newly registered vehicles.

This modification comes three years after the introduction of the previous letter ('L'), which took place in September 2019, which is a longer period than usual due to the Covid pandemic.

As the portal dieselogasolina.com points out, the letters 'MMB' will begin to be seen on Spanish roads in the middle of next month. However, if you are ordering a new vehicle there is a tool on their website which will predict your new registration number by delivery date.

Since 2000, licence plates in Spain have been made up of a combination of numbers and letters. Specifically, it is a sequence of four digits and three letters. The change in the system occurred as a result of community regulations with the aim of harmonizing the model throughout the country, replacing the previous plate identification system with the initials of the Spanish provinces and a set of four digits and then two letters, e.g. TF 1234 CC.

The DGT began assigning the new number plates with the letter B and not with the letter A, which is the first in the alphabet, deciding to dispense with vowels to avoid rude combinations, acronyms, and proper names.

The vowels are not the only letters that were excluded, the letters Ñ and Q were left out to avoid possible misunderstandings with N, O and the number 0. For their part, the letters LL and CH, which were still included in the alphabet when the European license plate system came into force, were discarded because the license plate design doesn’t allow four characters in the last group.

These have been the previous changes since the year 2000:
Registrations BBB to BZZ: September 2000 – October 2002
Registrations CBB to CZZ: October 2002 – September 2004
Registrations DBB to DZZ: September 2004 – May 2006
Registrations FBB to FZZ: May 2006 – February 2008
Registrations GBB to GZZ: February 2008 – December 2010
Registrations HBB to HZZ: December 2010 – November 2014
Registrations JBB to JZZ: November 2014 – June 2017
Registrations KBB to KZZ: June 2017 – September 2019
Registrations LBB to LZZ: September 2019 – September 2022