The Change Coming to Spain That Will Affect All Cars in 2025

Car license plates were introduced in Spain in 1900, and since then, the black and white plate has been a common identifier.

Over time, three systems have been used for these plates: the provincial numeric, the provincial alphanumeric, and the national alphanumeric. Today, the combination of numbers and letters still allows for at least 92 million combinations. However, it is estimated that by 2053, all of them will be exhausted.

The "Regulation for the service of motor vehicles on roads" of 1900 spoke of creating a provincial registry, but no uniform criteria were established. This registration system could include one to three letters representing a province and up to six digits.

In 1971, the numbering was restarted. This meant adding a letter and reducing the number of digits to four until reaching Z; it was then that a second letter was added. The final letters excluded Ñ, Q, and R, and the second final letter never used vowels except U.

In 2000, a registration system of four digits and three consonant letters assigned nationally came into effect. This allowed for the first time the elimination of the reference to the province of registration, establishing a unique system throughout Spain.

Now, with the start of the new year, the M series ends and the N series begins. In August 2022, license plates reached the M series, starting with the combination MBB. Among the forecasts, it is considered that on May 11th, we might see the first car with the NBB combination.

But everything depends on the pace of car registrations. A system that avoids vowels and some consonants to prevent confusion or offensive results.

As explained by Canal Motor, if vowels were used, there could be cars with the license plate 'ETA', 'FBI', 'GAY', 'ONG'... These are acronyms that could offend sensitivities. Or offensive words like 'ANO', 'PIS', or 'PEO', for example. In Spain, the use of the letters Ñ and Q was also restricted. In these cases, to avoid conflicts in terms of visualization, since Ñ can be confused with N. And Q, depending on the distance from which it is viewed, can sometimes appear as O.