France just introduced bright pink license plates and they’re meant to be impossible to ignore

Across the world, license plates can look different, but over in France, things have taken a whole new turn, with the introduction of bright pink license plates.

The change, which came into effect from New Year’s Day 2026, saw the plates become valid for a temporary period, and could even deter fraud from taking place.

The plates will make crime easier to spot by officials.

First outlined in November 2026, the strategy got off to a flying start, and two weeks in, the plates are certainly brightening up ‘les routes en France’.

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La vie en rose – France introduces new bright pink license plates

The French government has shaken things up when it comes to vehicle license plates.

Instead of the usual monochrome, bright pink license plates have taken center stage, coming into play on January 1.

They’re set to feature a bright pink background with distinctive characters, but that is not all.

Other information about the registration certificate is set to be displayed on the right of the plate, so that officials can easily identify the details that they need – fast.

Not everything changes, though, as the dimensions and format of the license plate will stay the same

Why pink?

Well, according to France Titres, the plates are for vehicles that are operating with a WW or W registration.

This includes vehicles that are imported before their registration in the country, new vehicles needing registration, and those used for road tests.

Due to the bright nature of the plates, the risk of fraud will also be reduced, which relates to the registration in circulation.

This is due to the expiration date for those with a provisional certificate being visible, to help with the crackdown on safe driving.

It’s set to be a big change too, with 40,000 vehicles every single year using temporary plates, and fraud on the rise.

“Even though fraud remains a marginal phenomenon compared to the scale of activity within the vehicle registration system (which handles 65 million files), it has increased in recent years,” Minister Delegate to the Minister of the Interior, Marie-Pierre Vedrenne began.

“Numerous effective and operational measures are being deployed to curb and reduce this scourge.”

French officials ‘ne regrettent rien’.

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