Kuala Lumpur tells its story in two letters and one mistake.

Until 1974, KL cars simply wore Selangor's B. When the city becomes a Federal Territory, it receives W. To avoid clashing with old Province Wellesley "W" plates, the sequence starts at WA 1; the early W-series is clean and quickly becomes the country's busiest register.

The success breaks the format. In 2013, WYY 9999 is reached and an extended W system with suffix letters is introduced. On paper it solves the capacity issue; on the road it looks awkward. Within a few years, a decision is made: retire W for normal issue and launch V as a fresh prefix for Kuala Lumpur in 2016.

W is now the archive of first-generation KL—ministry cars, early developers, the city growing into itself. V is the reset: a deliberately clean, auction-friendly capital series born from learning what not to do. Both are unmistakably urban, but each marks a different chapter in how KL numbers its metal.