Exports of used cars from Japan to Russia were suspended for a period of time around mid-March 2022, and there have been frequent news reports of large numbers of used cars waiting to be loaded at Japanese ports.
However, cars are a necessity for Russian people, and Japanese cars are especially popular for their reliability and excellent maintainability.
After that, the suspension of exports was short-lived, and from around the end of March, exports resumed except for luxury cars priced at 6 million yen or more, which are considered luxury goods.
Regulations were later tightened, including banning the export of regular trucks, but the number of passenger cars increased dramatically month by month.
From October to November 2022, used cars from Japan were stuck at Russian ports as port workers fled the country to avoid the “partial mobilization order.”
Although the growth in exports slowed during that period, a total of 204,672 vehicles were exported in 2022, the highest in the past 10 years. (The 200,000 units do not include cheap vehicles under 200,000 yen, which are not counted as exports. In reality, it is thought that there are many more Japanese cars.)