Porsche 718’s ‘fancy number’ costs more than a Toyota Fortuner

Customised number plates are a trend in developed countries, but in India, you can only get per-decided fancy numbers on the registration plates. If the number is rare or unique, they are auctioned in India. In such an event, a Porsche 718 Boxster owner from Kerala placed a bid for India’s most expensive number plate.

K.S. Balagopal, who is a resident of Kowdiar, Thiruvananthapuram placed the winning bid of Rs 30 lakh on a special registration number. He won the number ‘KL-01-CK-1’ for his spanking new Porsche 718 Boxster which is a few weeks old. The winner of the bidding process has paid a total of Rs. 31 lakh, which includes his winning bid and Rs 1 lakh reservation and application fees for the number. The price of the new registration number is higher than the price of a brand new Ford Endeavour or a Toyota Fortuner. The Porsche 718 Boxster is a mid-engine two-seater sports car that is priced at Rs. 1.2 crores. The convertible is finished in a beautiful Miami Blue shade.

The bidding started just at Rs 500 and was spread over 7 steps in total. The highly popular number saw stiff bidding among the bidders and the price went up in the multiple of Rs 5 lakh in the open auction. Mr Balagopal called for the winning bid after he received aggressive bidding by a Dubai-based Non-Resident Keralite businessman, whose last bid was Rs. 25.5 lakh.

This is not the first fancy numberplate auction won by the pharmaceuticals-distributor. In 2017, Balagopal won the number ‘KL-01-CB-1’ at Rs 19 lakh for his Toyota Land Cruiser. The new Rs 30 lakh bid is the highest in India yet. However, the owner did not know about it till the RTO officials informed him about the same. Auctioning of fancy numberplate is a form of revenue for the Regional Transport Office (RTO) who allocate and distributes registration numbers. The Thiruvananthapuram earned Rs. 37.31 lakh by auctioning 31 fancy vehicle registration numbers in the new series.

K.S. Balagopal is also a philanthropist and said that he is crazy about fancy numbers on the registration plates. He does not regret spending so much on the numbers. He also added that he donated as much as Rs. 10 lakh to the relief camps and hospitals during the Kerala flood.

Coming back to the car, the Porsche 718 Boxster was launched in India last year. The car comes with Bi-Xenon headlights with DRLs. The 718 Boxster is one of the most beautiful looking sports cars in the segment. It draws power from a 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine that replaces the 3.4-litre, six-cylinder engine that powered the last generation of the model. The small engine produces a maximum of 298 Bhp and 380 Nm. The car can reach do 0-100 km/h in just 4.7 seconds. The top speed is electronically limited at 275 km/h. It gets a seven-speed automatic PDK. The new 718 Boxster also gets a newly tuned chassis and the wider front and side air-intakes. It also gets a lot of features inside including a six-speaker system and Porsche 918-inspired sports steering wheel with Porsche Communication Management System.