Why Japanese imports have become so popular, plus what to look out for when going down this route.

Over recent years, there’s been a shift in the focus of importing used cars into Ireland – with consumers’ preferred route no longer being to bring in vehicles just from the UK, but to instead look much further east to Japan.

Data published by Cartell.ie last year showed that buyers are increasingly turning to Japanese imports in a post-Brexit era, with UK imports dwindling significantly in the same period.

There are now notable cost benefits associated with bringing in a used car from Japan instead of the UK, as well as reliability benefits too – but there are also some potential drawbacks, specifically with tracing the history of these Japanese models.

However, now that Cartell.ie provides the first vehicle history reports service for Japanese import vehicles, there is more clarity in the process for Irish used-car buyers that should only see the popularity of importing vehicles from the Asian country increase.

Here, we look at the recent trend towards Japanese imports, the pros and cons of such vehicles, and which are some of the most popular models coming to these shores.

Why imports from Japan?

Principally, it’s one of the few countries in the world with left-hand traffic like ours, which in turn means cars where the driver sits on the right-hand side of the vehicle.

More than double the countries in the world (165) use right-hand traffic and left-hand drive, including all of Europe barring the UK (and its dependencies, like the Channel Islands), Malta and Cyprus, compared to the 75 which are set up like Ireland.

Of these left-hand traffic markets, Japan is easily the most important from an automotive perspective, given the number of manufacturers which herald from there and how important its car market is viewed in the global framework.

What are the numbers involved?

In the past decade, data from Cartell.ie shows Japanese imports have increased nearly tenfold, from 2,321 units in 2014 to 21,716 units in 2023.

In contrast, UK imports have significantly declined, from 44,939 in 2014 to just 14,904 in 2023.

Primarily, this is to do with the UK’s departure from the EU. UK imports to Ireland peaked in 2019 but then started the rapid decline the following year, due to the import costs and conditions (including increased paperwork and restrictions) of bringing a car from the UK changing for the worse in the wake of Brexit.

By 2024, figures showed there were double the number of Japanese imports as opposed to UK  imports coming to Ireland.

What are the pros and cons of Japanese imports?

Japan, despite a climate that includes the risk of plenty of snow and ice in various regions of the country, does not tend to salt its roads to anywhere near such a widespread degree as the UK does in cold weather – the Asian country instead relying on other, more innovative methods to combat frozen roads.

As a result, this means cars which have spent all their life in Japan are far more likely to be rust-free – especially in hidden areas, like underneath the vehicle and in the chassis structure – than cars from the UK, where the salt content can badly corrode steel.

Japan also has different rates of depreciation on used cars, which can mean better-quality vehicles are available at lower prices than they might be in equivalent specification in the UK.

Furthermore, Japanese owners are traditionally seen as more fastidious, so their vehicles are considered more reliable and well-maintained.

Another potential benefit with the Japanese market cars is that they tend to have higher specifications with more advanced technology, as well as better fuel efficiency ratings too (hybrids are very popular in Japan).

However, traditionally the main issue with a Japanese import was to do with ‘buying it blind’. This is because it was often hard to trace the history of a vehicle that had been driven in Japan, so it wasn’t always known if the car had been properly serviced according to the manufacturer’s criteria, nor if it had been previously crash-damaged and then repaired, or even stolen.

A survey of Japan’s fleet of used vehicles – no fewer than a staggering 130 million vehicles – showed that 600,000 of them had been damaged in accidents, 21,000 were reported as stolen, around 30 per cent (39 million) had reported mileage discrepancies (i.e., their odometers were showing fewer total kilometres travelled than the true figure), and bizarrely, fully 1,400 of them failed a radioactive contamination test.

One continuing drawback of Japanese-market vehicles, either from manufacturers based there or cars from European manufacturers sent as exports to the country, is that they can use unusual parts that might not be available through European dealers and garages. This is particularly prevalent on Japan-made vehicles that were never exported from their home country, such as unusual people carriers, SUVs and hybrids from the likes of Toyota, Honda, Nissan and so on.

The Car VX Report from Cartell.ie

Thankfully, a lot of the risks listed above can now be mitigated by Irish consumers looking to import a Japanese vehicle, thanks to the Car VX Report.

For just €25.50 (depending on exchange rates – whatever the euro is worth compared to ¥3,500 Japanese yen), Car VX Limited has access to data from the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) which includes comprehensive vehicle history reports for second-hand cars in the country.

This not only covers whether the car has ever suffered a form of accident damage (including floods, fires and other natural disasters) or whether its mileage is accurate, but also whether it has ever been recalled, stolen, used as a service vehicle (police, taxi etc), or presents a risk of radioactive contamination.

The most popular models to import

While it might seem obvious to assume that the most popular cars to import from Japan are vehicles from its own domestic manufacturers that were never sold overseas, in actual fact the strongest trade is in European models heading back this way from Asia.

Used Volkswagens from Japan are the most popular make for imports to Ireland, with particular emphasis on the Polo supermini and Golf hatchback. Related to the latter, the Audi A3 is also one of the most-imported vehicles from Japan to Ireland, while other premium German and Swedish marques (BMW, Mercedes, Volvo) feature highly.

Having said that, Japanese brands such as Toyota, Honda and Nissan are increasing in popularity. If the cars coming from Japan are from Japanese manufacturers, typically they’re between six and ten years old, with the majority of them in 2024 having petrol engines. The remainder are typically petrol-electric hybrids, a popular type of vehicle in Japan in general.