strip is a triangle pointing left. Diplomatic The strip on the plates for diplomatic vehicles is colored green. The Saudi Coat of arms is surrounded by a white rectangle. There is no symbol at the bottom of the strip. Banned combinations Some letter combinations are banned, either for their Arabic or Latin translation. Among them are " 'S' 'E' 'X' ", " 'A' 'S' 'S' ", and others. The KSA combination is however allowed. Former registration plates The current plates were introduced in 2006. The former registration plates prior to 1996 used only 3 numbers and 3 letters with no translation. Even older license plates had a 7-number combination assigned to them, appearing in Arabic (International) and Hindi (East Arab) numerals. Above them was written Al-Saudia, in Arabic only. Numbers were sometimes padded by zeroes. Plates for trucks, public transport or diplomatic vehicles had a blue, yellow, or green background, respectively. The colors have been preserved in the current system, except that in the older system the entire plate had such a background. References External links Saudi registration plates at olavsplates.com Saudi registration plates at worldlicenseplates.com Source Code of Arabic License Plate Recognition Saudi Arabia Road transport in Saudi Arabia Government of Saudi Arabia Registration plate