Russians loading up on RHDs from Japan post-tsunami
The recent earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan has had caused some strange market behaviours. Some people are trying to play up the rarity of the RHD market, while... apparently Russians are buying cars out of Japan like they're going out of style!
I found an article on Financial Times that vehicle exports from Japan to Russia have gone up 10% since the tsunami. Note that Russia drives on the right side of the road, therefore driving LHDs. So, RHD grey imports are as much an anomaly there as it is in Canada!
Clearly I'm not up on my rules and regulations on Russian vehicle imports, but a quote from the Financial Times article:
The Russian government has tried to clamp down on the used-car trade saying the clunkers can be dangerous – and wishing to boost sales of Ladas and other domestic models.
The authorities even tried to restrict right-hand-drive vehicles and impose import tax on second-hand foreign cars. But the measures that prompted violent street protests in Vladivostok in 2009...
Clearly us Canadians could learn a thing or two from the Russians. "You can take our grey imports from our cold dead fingers!"
March 16th, 2011 - 17:42
It’s not as rare as in Canada – in the Eastern part of Russia, a significant proportion of cars are RHD – so much so that toll booths and the like will have a RHD land.
March 16th, 2011 - 17:46
That’s really interesting! I didn’t know that! Thanks for taking the time to tell us what you know!
rob
March 21st, 2011 - 17:09
Well, it is insane process if you want to import a car from the Western side of Russia – the ta and bribes count as much as half of the car’s estimated value! In lots of cases car’s even fail to be imported into country precisely because of Western customs being so…greedy.
Probably that’s why the import on the Eastern side has grown, primarily because it is cheaper to import there. And what can you import on the Eastern side? Well, the only reasonable choice is Japanese stuff =)