Vehicle registration plates in Hungary usually consist of seven characters on white background with black letters. The current system was introduced in 1 July 2022 (e.g. AA AB 123). The standard license plates for private vehicles carry four letters and three numbers, separated with coat of arms between the letters and hyphen before the numbers. The combination has no connection with geographic location.
The current system: 2022–present
In 2012 the Hungarian government wanted to replace the license plates with a new system that would indicate the geographical area where the car was registered. The idea of this new system was permanently discarded. Based on the number of license plates issued in a year, the previous system would have enough combinations approximately until 2025. Rumors have started in May 2021 about a system which would consist of four letters and three numbers and would be introduced in 2022.
On 1 June 2021 a new Ordinance was published by the Government. This determines the new format which was introduced on 1 July 2022. Ordinary plates will consist of four letters and three numbers and will use a new font type as well. Plates will include the Hungarian coat of arms after the first two letters. Green and grey plates will be available, just as in the previous system. Some special plate types ceased to exist and were replaced with a general "I" plate (see special plates below). Also, there are several types with special prefixes: TX - Taxi, OT - Old Timer, CD - Diplomatic (same as the previous, except for the font type), BA - Law enforcement, RA - Police, HA - Military, MA - Ambulance, NA - National Tax and Customs Administration.
History
Many different license plate formats were in use in Hungarian history. Below is just a short summary of the different systems before the one used nowadays.
Early times, World Wars and the Rákosi era: 1901–1958
The first registration plates were handed out in 1901, when Hungary was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. This contained numbers only and just a couple of hundred vehicles were registered until 1910. In 1910 a new system was introduced which divided the country into 15 districts. Regional codes were followed by numbers on the plates. Owing to the larger number of vehicles, from 1922, plates also included the year of issue next to the regional code. The same regional system was maintained until 1933, even though the territory of Hungary was significantly reduced after the Treaty of Trianon. In 1933 the regional system was changed to a two letter - three number format. Front plates were rectangle, rear plates were square shaped. In the 1940s, in and shortly after the years of the World War II the format was temporarily changed to one letter - four number. From 1948 the previous two letter - three number format returned. In the years of the harsh communism there were only a few private cars, most of the vehicles were owned by the state, there was no need of expanding the number of characters.
Socialist era: 1958–1990
From 1958 citizens were allowed to buy a vehicle for private purposes, the format was changed to two letter and four number, with short dashes between them (eg.: AB·12·34). The letters were in connection with the type/nature/owner of the vehicle. Standard plates had black characters on white background, commercial vehicles had so called "inverse" plates, white characters on black background. Diplomatic plates had blue background (just as nowadays).
The previous system: 1990–2022
There were almost 2 million cars in traffic in 1990 which required the introduction of a new system. The previous three letter - three number format was introduced in 1990 with the Hungarian flag above ‘H’ on the left side of the plate, separated by a black vertical line. This was slightly modified from May 1, 2004 (when Hungary joined the European Union ) the EU stars are shown above the ‘H’ on a blue stripe. However, some plate types are still issued in the pre-2004 format.
Ordinary plates
Ordinary plates carry six characters, three letters and three numbers (except for personalised plates). Since May 2004 every plate has euroband on the left side, instead of the Hungarian tricolor. Validation stickers were used on the rear plate, below and above the hyphen from 1999, but they are no longer in use since January 2016. In case of europlates every vehicle has to have a validation sticker at the bottom right corner of the windscreen. It contains the plate number of the vehicle and a bar code. Its usefulness is highly questionable.