Under Russian traffic rules, drivers must drive on the right side of the road but traffic officials generally tolerate cars with Japanese style Right Hand Drive (RHD) cars designed to run on the left hand side of the road. 

Used cars from Japan are as popular as Left Hand Drive (LHD) cars by Russian automobile makers such as Volga.   As per the latest estimates, Russia has more than 1.5 million RHD vehicles on its roads.  In the far eastern regions of Russia, such as Vladivostok, RHD cars make up to 90% of the total.  Many drivers in this region own cars with right-hand drive imported from Japan.  This includes not only private cars, but also government vehicles, ambulances and police cars.

However, Russian bureaucrats have recently launched a full-scale campaign against used cars with right-hand drive. This is said to be incited and financed by Russian domestic automakers and Western corporations who plan to set up their automobile factories in Russia.  Russia also plans to sharply raise duties on used imported cars to protect its domestic automobile makers.

Right Hand Drive Car from Japan

Recently, thousands of drivers in Russia’s far eastern city of Vladivostok have rallied against a possible government ban on cars with right-hand steering wheels, which is proposed by the Russian government commission.  Protesters also criticized a proposal to raise tariffs on imported vehicles.  Drivers gathered in the city centre and held signs saying “We have the right to right-hand wheels”.

Similar protests were held in other cities of Russia’s far east, including Khabarovsk and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk.

We understand that many of our Russian customers would be affected by such regulation changes.  However, we will try to do our best by finding partners who could offer services to conver RHD cars to LHD,  replace headlamps etc to meet the new regulations.

Technorati Tags: Japanese, Used cars, Japan, Russia, Vladivostok

Micro car iQ from Toyota Motor Corporations’s  is named the Japanese Car of the Year 2008-09. This award is organized by Japanese Coty Web site. The winners were selected by a committee of sixty-five jurors who are writers and consultants from automobile industry. 

Toyota IQ - Japanese Car of the Year

Toyota iQ won this prestigious award by a great margin over competitors such as Citroen’s C5, Audi’s A4 and Jaguar’s XF. This is a good news for Toyota, as it will help them to advertise the 1-liter iQ to boost sales amid slumping demand for new automobiles in Japan and the U.S.

The iQ micro car from Toyota, will be available in Japan from Nov. 20.  It can carry three adults and has additional space for a child or luggage.  It will be priced between 1.4 million yen ($14,300) and 1.6 million yen.  BMW’s Mini One is priced from 2.08 million yen, and Daimler AG’s twin-seat Smart For Two is sold from 1.76 million yen.

The Toyota iQ, is currently the world’s smallest four-seater car Measuring just under 3 meters. It is shorter than Japanese mini cars such as Daihatsu Motor Co.’s Move. and little longer than the 2.4-meter Smart ForTwo.

The iQ won this award mainly because of its space efficiency and design, particularly its ability to seat four people in a body less than three meter long, as well as its combination of safety and low CO2 emissions.

This car is currently not available in other countries. If you are interested, we can arrange shipment for you. It is a nice car for those who are looking for a compact, fuel efficient car for small family.

Technorati Tags: Japanese Car, Toyota, automobiles, Japan, micro car, Toyota iQ, mini car

Best Trading is an authorized member of 90 auctions located all over Japan which offer over 150,000 vehicles every week. Our clients can access Japanese auction system from our website, where you can take a virtual tour of Japanese used cars offered at varioys auction houses such as the USS Auto Auction and view all the vehicles available for sale there.

Apart from participating in the online auctions, we encourage our clients to visit the high-tech  auction halls in Japan. For buyers who wish to buy used Japanese vehicles from auto auctions on  a regular basis, we encourage to visit our company office in Tokyo. We can then persoanlly accompany you to various used car auctions in Japan. It can be a valuable experience for your used car import business.

If you visit our office, I recommend you to stay in Hotel Kinuya in Ueno, Tokyo. This hotel is just 10 min on walk from our office. You can check their homepage at

http://www.kinuyahotel.jp

It is about 65 US$ a night and conveniently accessible from Narita International airport.

For commuting from Narita airport to Ueno, I recommend you to take the Keisei Skyliner Express train. You can check more details at

http://www.keisei.co.jp/keisei/tetudou/keisei_us/top.html

Technorati Tags: Japanese, vehicles, auto auction, Tokyo, used car, import