Vehicle registration plates of Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan license plate - Western Province - front side

Sri Lankan license plate - Souther Province - rear side

Vehicle registration plates of Sri Lanka (known in Sri Lanka as "Number plates") started soon after introduction of motorcars in 1903. Initially the numbers started with Q, and the oldest existing plate is "Q 53" of a 1903 Wolsley. Later the island was divided into sections from "A " to "Z" (Ex A 123 ), then after WWII it changed to the two Roman letter plates combining pairs of letters in the word CEYLON . These series were CL XXXX , EY XXXX, EL XXXx . Afterwards in 1956 a new system with the Sinhala script letter Sri (ශ්‍රී) in the middle was introduced, this started from Reg no "1 Sri 1". The system was complex and still baffles many foreigners, who often referred to "Sri" as "crab", on account of its shape.

The current version started in 2000. It was developed by the German Utsch AG using a variation of the FE-Schrift. As of 2013 a new system with 3 English letters starting from AAA 0001 has been introduced.