A white Panther saloon made in 1978 is perhaps the most cherished car in Hong Kong, for its number plate is 1 L0VE U. The plate was snapped up by property tycoon Joseph Lau Luen-hung for HK$1.4 million - by far the highest bid in the eight auctions held by the Transport Department since the number plate scheme was launched last year.

Toy magnate Francis Choi Chi-ming paid HK$60,000 for T0Y. But this does not adorn a fancy sports car - the plate belongs to a 5.5-tonne company truck.

Car-plate trader Ngan Man-hon said it was a good idea to put personalised plates on company trucks as a publicity measure: 'It demonstrates the economic strength and scale of a company when people see a row of cars with company names on the car plates'.