Since the sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine, most car factories have been shut down in Russia and imports of new cars are complicated. Second-hand Japanese cars are therefore popular, boosted by demand from Russian drivers who are struggling to buy anything else. They rather prefer this type of vehicle than the old Lada.
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More and more of these Japanese cars are landing in Vladivostok, at the far end of Russia – where the Trans-Siberian ends. Japan applies less severe sanctions than the United States or Europe and cars only have to cross 900 km of sea inlets to enter Russia.
In the port of Vladivostok, Andrei Gouseev is unloading a cargo ship. “As cynical as it sounds, we are war profiteers.acknowledges the car importer. It is through Vladivostok that the parallel imports pass, which have exploded.” Andrei points a boat a little further: “This ship has not been able to unload since Friday because it has nowhere to unload.”
Japan hadn’t exported so many used cars to Russia since 2009. There’s just one problem: Japan drives on the left. All these cars have the steering wheel on the right. But in the Russian Far East this is not a problem. Mikhail, a taxi driver in his fifties, has always driven like this: “We have very few left-hand drive cars in Vladivostok. Most are right-hand drive.”
“We were born with, as they say, we got used to it. Almost everyone drives on the right side. You learn to drive on the left side according to the rules, but here in Vladivostok we drive on the right side.”
Mikhail, a Russian taxiat franceinfo
And cars, driving on the right, could soon be seen all over Russia. In Zelennii Ougol, “the green corner”, on the heights of Vladivostok – one of the largest used car markets in Russia, Ivan comes to inquire with a friend. Yet he lives in Kurgan in the Urals 7000 kilometers away but comes especially to buy a car. “We came from the Urals because there are no more carsunderlines Ivan. Here, the choice is very wide.“
“It’s a market that is known all over the country. I looked at the reviews and as far as the prices are concerned, they are favorable, so we came.”
Ivan, a customerat franceinfo
In Russia, sales of new cars have collapsed by 80% since the start of the war. Luckily there are second-hand Japanese cars and so much the worse for the right-hand drive.