A number of luxury cars were used by governmental officials in Yulin, a northern city and an energy base of coal, gas and oil in Shaanxi province, that broke the regulations concerning official vehicles.

People.com.cn reported on Monday that many luxury cars with special vehicle license plates used only by local government officials were seen in the city's streets and the parking lot of a high-end hotel where governmental conferences are often held.

Two four-liter Toyota Land Cruiser SUVs valued between 765,000 yuan and 1.15 million yuan ($121,029 to $191,939) with the special government vehicle license plates Shaan KA0031 and Shaan KA0096 parked in front of the hotel were found to be registered to the office of the Yulin municipal government and the office of the Yulin municipal committee of the Communist Party of China.

According to the Vehicle Management Office of Yulin City Traffic Police Detachment, the vehicle license plates Shaan KA are specially used by the municipal government and municipal Party committee. No private cars could have such license plates.

The central government stipulated that officials at minister level can use three-liter cars that cost less than 450,000 yuan, officials at vice-minister level can use three-liter cars that cost less than 350,000 yuan and other officials can use two-liter cars that cost less than 250,000 yuan.

Obviously, the official vehicles used by Yulin governmental departments broke the regulation, people.com.cn said.

It was reported that the Yulin government held a special working conference to manage and control official vehicles on May 31, 2011. The public were suspicious why so many luxury vehicles were used by governmental officials.

The government of Yulin has so far not responded to the story.

With abundant coal, oil and natural gas resources, Yulin's fiscal revenue amounted to 55.82 billion yuan in 2011.