Electrified Vehicles Reached 29% of Georgia’s Car Imports in H1 2026
Georgia imported fewer cars in the first half of 2026, but the decline was concentrated in conventional petrol and diesel categories. Hybrids, plug-in hybrids and battery-electric cars increased their combined share from 21.4% to 29.0%. The customs data establish a change in the import mix; they do not establish why it happened.
Car imports by drivetrain and engine band
HS 8703 six-digit subheadings, vehicle units, H1 2025 and H1 2026. Categories are not equivalent models.
A smaller market with a different drivetrain mix
Georgia recorded 100,616 imported motor cars in January–June 2026, compared with 114,778 a year earlier. The total fell 12.3%.
The categories did not move together. Petrol cars with 1.5–3.0-litre engines, the largest category in the table, fell from 59,815 to 46,069 vehicles, or 23.0%. Petrol cars in the 1.0–1.5-litre band fell from 11,102 to 8,121, or 26.9%. Diesel cars above 2.5 litres fell 31.9%, from 2,743 to 1,869.
Electrified categories moved in the other direction. Petrol hybrids rose 9.7%, from 20,102 to 22,053 vehicles. Plug-in hybrids rose 27.7%, from 716 to 914. Battery-electric cars rose 63.7%, from 3,718 to 6,087.
Taken together, hybrid, plug-in-hybrid and battery-electric subheadings represented 29.0% of car imports, up from 21.4% in the first half of 2025. Conventional petrol and diesel categories fell from 76.7% to 67.7%. Small residual HS 8703 categories account for the remainder.
A smaller market with a different drivetrain mix
Georgia recorded 100,616 imported motor cars in January–June 2026, compared with 114,778 a year earlier. The total fell 12.3%.
The categories did not move together. Petrol cars with 1.5–3.0-litre engines, the largest category in the table, fell from 59,815 to 46,069 vehicles, or 23.0%. Petrol cars in the 1.0–1.5-litre band fell from 11,102 to 8,121, or 26.9%. Diesel cars above 2.5 litres fell 31.9%, from 2,743 to 1,869.
Electrified categories moved in the other direction. Petrol hybrids rose 9.7%, from 20,102 to 22,053 vehicles. Plug-in hybrids rose 27.7%, from 716 to 914. Battery-electric cars rose 63.7%, from 3,718 to 6,087.
Taken together, hybrid, plug-in-hybrid and battery-electric subheadings represented 29.0% of car imports, up from 21.4% in the first half of 2025. Conventional petrol and diesel categories fell from 76.7% to 67.7%. Small residual HS 8703 categories account for the remainder.
Car imports by drivetrain and engine band
HS 8703 six-digit subheadings, vehicle units, H1 2025 and H1 2026. Categories are not equivalent models.
Monthly imports in three selected categories, 2026
Vehicle units. The excise rules entered into force on 2 April; customs declarations do not reveal the date of the purchase decision.
The excise is relevant context, not a causal result
Georgia’s revised passenger-car excise rules entered into force on 2 April 2026. The base rate is GEL 1.5 per cubic centimetre for cars aged 0–6 years and GEL 4.5 for cars older than six years. A 60% reduction applies to left-hand-drive hybrids aged 0–6 years; left-hand-drive battery-electric cars remain excise-exempt under the current code.
That structure makes drivetrain financially relevant. It does not turn a before-and-after customs table into proof that importers switched because of the tax. The electrified share was already above its 2025 level in January, February and March, before the new rates took effect. Exchange rates, available auction stock, vehicle age, shipping schedules and demand in Georgia or re-export markets can also change the mix.
The defensible finding is descriptive: after a policy change that treats drivetrains differently, electrified categories continued to gain share while the large conventional categories contracted. Attribution requires more than this dataset provides.
The excise is relevant context, not a causal result
Georgia’s revised passenger-car excise rules entered into force on 2 April 2026. The base rate is GEL 1.5 per cubic centimetre for cars aged 0–6 years and GEL 4.5 for cars older than six years. A 60% reduction applies to left-hand-drive hybrids aged 0–6 years; left-hand-drive battery-electric cars remain excise-exempt under the current code.
That structure makes drivetrain financially relevant. It does not turn a before-and-after customs table into proof that importers switched because of the tax. The electrified share was already above its 2025 level in January, February and March, before the new rates took effect. Exchange rates, available auction stock, vehicle age, shipping schedules and demand in Georgia or re-export markets can also change the mix.
The defensible finding is descriptive: after a policy change that treats drivetrains differently, electrified categories continued to gain share while the large conventional categories contracted. Attribution requires more than this dataset provides.
Monthly imports in three selected categories, 2026
Vehicle units. The excise rules entered into force on 2 April; customs declarations do not reveal the date of the purchase decision.
No cross-band downsizing signal
A per-cubic-centimetre tax could also encourage smaller engines. The published HS subheadings show no shift into the smallest high-volume petrol band: imports of 1.0–1.5-litre petrol cars fell 26.9%, faster than the 23.0% decline in the 1.5–3.0-litre band.
This does not prove that no downsizing occurred. The 1.5–3.0-litre category is wide: a move from a 2.4-litre engine to a 1.8-litre engine remains inside the same subheading. Hybrids are also classified by drivetrain rather than placed in the conventional petrol bands. The data rule out a broad shift across the 1.5-litre boundary; they cannot observe changes within the larger band or compare equivalent models.
The monthly series strengthened through June
Electrified vehicles accounted for 24.2% of imports in January 2026, 25.7% in February, 28.3% in March, 28.8% in April, 32.0% in May and 33.3% in June.
The large 1.5–3.0-litre petrol category peaked at 9,573 vehicles in March and then recorded 7,913 in April, 7,630 in May and 7,737 in June. That sequence is consistent with some customs activity being brought forward before the new rules, but it is not enough to identify such behaviour. The monthly reference period is the month in which the customs authority receives the declaration, not the date on which a buyer chose or paid for a car.
June provides the sharpest year-on-year contrast: 1.5–3.0-litre petrol imports fell 40.1%, while petrol hybrids rose 6.3% and battery-electric imports rose 88.6%. One month should not be treated as a permanent level, especially while the data remain preliminary.
The monthly series strengthened through June
Electrified vehicles accounted for 24.2% of imports in January 2026, 25.7% in February, 28.3% in March, 28.8% in April, 32.0% in May and 33.3% in June.
The large 1.5–3.0-litre petrol category peaked at 9,573 vehicles in March and then recorded 7,913 in April, 7,630 in May and 7,737 in June. That sequence is consistent with some customs activity being brought forward before the new rules, but it is not enough to identify such behaviour. The monthly reference period is the month in which the customs authority receives the declaration, not the date on which a buyer chose or paid for a car.
June provides the sharpest year-on-year contrast: 1.5–3.0-litre petrol imports fell 40.1%, while petrol hybrids rose 6.3% and battery-electric imports rose 88.6%. One month should not be treated as a permanent level, especially while the data remain preliminary.
Declared value per vehicle is not a price index
Recorded import value divided by the number of vehicles gives an aggregate declared CIF value per vehicle. For battery-electric cars it fell from about $17,172 in H1 2025 to $14,619 in H1 2026. For petrol hybrids it rose from $17,235 to $18,735.
These ratios do not show that comparable electric cars became cheaper or comparable hybrids became more expensive. They can move because the mix of models, ages, conditions, countries of dispatch and freight costs changed. A like-for-like price claim would require vehicle-level characteristics or a proper price index.
Same-period exports as a share of imports, by drivetrain
Exports divided by imports of the same subheadings in each half-year. This is a flow ratio, not a matched-cohort re-export or retention rate.
Export and import flows are not matched cohorts
Same-period exports equalled 48.2% of conventional petrol and diesel imports in H1 2026, 22.9% of hybrid and plug-in-hybrid imports, and 7.6% of battery-electric imports. The electric ratio fell from 19.6% a year earlier because imports rose sharply while recorded exports fell.
This is a comparison of two customs flows, not a retention rate. Cars imported and exported in the same six months are not necessarily the same vehicles, and stock can remain in Georgia for months before sale or re-export. The figures show that exports did not rise alongside electrified imports; they do not count how many of the newly imported cars stayed in Georgia.
Export and import flows are not matched cohorts
Same-period exports equalled 48.2% of conventional petrol and diesel imports in H1 2026, 22.9% of hybrid and plug-in-hybrid imports, and 7.6% of battery-electric imports. The electric ratio fell from 19.6% a year earlier because imports rose sharply while recorded exports fell.
This is a comparison of two customs flows, not a retention rate. Cars imported and exported in the same six months are not necessarily the same vehicles, and stock can remain in Georgia for months before sale or re-export. The figures show that exports did not rise alongside electrified imports; they do not count how many of the newly imported cars stayed in Georgia.
Same-period exports as a share of imports, by drivetrain
Exports divided by imports of the same subheadings in each half-year. This is a flow ratio, not a matched-cohort re-export or retention rate.
Limits and methodology
The analysis uses all HS 8703 import and export records in Geostat’s external-trade portal, grouped by six-digit subheading and month, from January 2024 through June 2026. “Electrified” means subheadings 870340, 870350, 870360, 870370 and 870380.
HS subheadings identify drivetrain and broad engine-displacement bands, but not model, production year, mileage or condition. The excise calculation depends heavily on age, which is absent from this table. January–June 2026 figures are marked preliminary by Geostat and may be revised.
Geostat external-trade data for HS 8703 by six-digit subheading, queried 20 July 2026. Values are current US-dollar customs values; quantities are vehicle units. January–June 2026 data are preliminary.
Methodology
Data: Georgia's official trade statistics (Geostat), customs commodity code 8703 — the heading Geostat publishes as "motor cars". Figures are counts of vehicles and declared customs values in US dollars, downloaded on 20 July 2026.
What the categories mean: inside code 8703, cars are split by what drives them and by engine size. "Electrified" here means the five sub-codes covering hybrids, plug-in hybrids and battery-electric cars. Hybrids that cannot be plugged in are counted as hybrids, not as electric cars.
What is inside the total: code 8703 as published also contains sub-code 870310 — snowmobiles, golf cars and similar vehicles. That was 3,131 units in the first half of 2026, about 3% of the total, at an average declared value of roughly $1,900 each. They are counted here because the published national totals count them.
Excise rates: taken from the Tax Code of Georgia, not from the trade data. The revised rates entered into force on 2 April 2026, and the 60% reduction for hybrids applies only to left-hand-drive cars aged up to six years.
All imports and exports recorded under code 8703 for Georgia, all partner countries combined, month by month from January 2024 to June 2026. The first half of 2026 covers 100,616 imported vehicles, of which 29.0% fall in the electrified group. Percentages are calculated from unrounded counts.
January 2024 — June 2026, comparing the first half of each year. Geostat marks the most recent months as preliminary and revises them, so the 2026 figures may still change. Customs records show what crossed the border and when, not why: the report describes a change in the mix of what was imported and does not establish what caused it.