Those who cheered were desperate car owners happy to get a plate with an average price lower by almost one-third than last year's level. Others, however, felt deep regret and complained the price rise since the January auction had exceeded their expectation.

The average successful bid rose to 32,169 yuan while the lowest winning price climbed to 31,300 yuan, the organizer, Shanghai International Commodity Auction Co, said on its Website.

This compared to the January result, when the average price unexpectedly plunged to a six-year low of 23,370 yuan and the lowest price dropped to 8,100 yuan after the city government changed the rules and there were problems with electronic bidding.

The Shanghai government put 9,300 plates up for sale on Saturday - the highest number since the system began in 2000, because the auction was delayed for nearly a month due to the February Spring Festival holiday break.

A total of 63,534 would-be plate owners, six times more than average, joined the bidding, including many expecting prices to mirror January's lows.

"I planned to bid 20,000 yuan based on the results from last time," said a 27-year-old marketing employee, surnamed Zhou. "I finally dropped my bid as prices soared."

Prices rocketed from 100 yuan to more than 18,000 yuan only two minutes after the auction started at 10am, by which time about 20,000 people had offered bids.

Ten minutes later, the lowest price broke the 23,000-yuan barrier. It is estimated that about 12,000 bidders dropped out at that stage.

"The prices for this month reflected the real market expectations and could set the tone for the whole year," said Zhu Junyi, director of an auto research department under the Shanghai Economic Committee's Information Center.

"But the price for future months could also be influenced by other factors, including the quota," Zhu said.

The average winning price peaked in December last year at a whopping 56,042 yuan.