The Right-Hand-Drive Penalty
A 3x excise surcharge lands squarely on Georgia's cheapest, fastest-moving Japanese stock.
Top RHD Makes by Active Listings — Honda, Toyota, Nissan Lead
A small niche, but a distinct one
Right-hand-drive vehicles occupy a narrow but well-defined corner of Georgia's used-car market. As of 22 June 2026, AutoBridge listing data shows 1,525 active RHD listings — roughly 5.3% of the combined RHD and LHD universe of just under 29,000 cars. That share is modest, yet the segment has a character entirely its own: a median asking price of $5,200, a median model year of 2015, and a turnover pace of 8 days. Compare that with the LHD majority — 27,477 listings, median $12,500, median year 2019, selling in a median 15 days — and the contrast is sharp. RHD stock is older, cheaper by more than half, and moves nearly twice as fast.
The make composition explains why. Honda leads with 456 listings, Toyota follows with 387, Nissan with 342. Subaru, Mitsubishi, and Mazda account for another 169 between them. These are overwhelmingly Japanese-origin vehicles, sourced from a market where steering configuration reflects domestic convention rather than any mechanical eccentricity. They arrive in Georgia through importers who have built their business model on the volume and predictability of budget Japanese stock.
A small niche, but a distinct one
Right-hand-drive vehicles occupy a narrow but well-defined corner of Georgia's used-car market. As of 22 June 2026, AutoBridge listing data shows 1,525 active RHD listings — roughly 5.3% of the combined RHD and LHD universe of just under 29,000 cars. That share is modest, yet the segment has a character entirely its own: a median asking price of $5,200, a median model year of 2015, and a turnover pace of 8 days. Compare that with the LHD majority — 27,477 listings, median $12,500, median year 2019, selling in a median 15 days — and the contrast is sharp. RHD stock is older, cheaper by more than half, and moves nearly twice as fast.
The make composition explains why. Honda leads with 456 listings, Toyota follows with 387, Nissan with 342. Subaru, Mitsubishi, and Mazda account for another 169 between them. These are overwhelmingly Japanese-origin vehicles, sourced from a market where steering configuration reflects domestic convention rather than any mechanical eccentricity. They arrive in Georgia through importers who have built their business model on the volume and predictability of budget Japanese stock.
Top RHD Makes by Active Listings — Honda, Toyota, Nissan Lead
Why the segment sells fast
The 8-day median days-to-sale is not accidental. RHD vehicles fill a specific demand: buyers whose budget ceiling sits at or below the $5,000–$6,000 range, who are not particularly concerned with steering side as long as the car is mechanically sound and the price is right. In a market where the LHD median sits at $12,500, RHD Japanese stock is effectively the entry tier. Demand at that price point does not thin out; it concentrates. The speed of turnover reflects genuine scarcity-versus-demand balance in the budget lane, not distressed selling.
That velocity also means importers of RHD stock carry inventory for a very short time. The economics of the trade depend on low per-unit holding cost and high rotation, not on margin per car.
RHD vs. LHD: Price, Age, and Turnover Compared
The 3x excise cliff
Law N1477-VMS-XIMP, effective 2 April 2026, restructures excise by engine displacement and vehicle age. The base rates are 4.5 GEL per cc for vehicles older than 6 years and 1.5 GEL per cc for vehicles 6 years old or newer. Left-hand-drive hybrids receive a 60% reduction. Electric vehicles are fully exempt, with no age cap applied.
For right-hand-drive vehicles, the law applies a 3x multiplier to the base rate in either age bracket. A typical 1.5-litre Japanese hatchback older than 6 years — the core of the RHD segment — faces an excise charge of roughly 4.5 × 1,500 × 3 = 20,250 GEL, or approximately $7,670 at the current exchange rate of 2.641 GEL per USD. On a car with a median ask of $5,200, that surcharge exceeds the vehicle's market value. Even at 1.5 GEL per cc for a sub-6-year car, the 3x multiplier produces a bill of around $2,557 — a meaningful addition to a $5,200 purchase.
The law does not distinguish between steering configurations for safety or emissions reasons; the multiplier is categorical. Every RHD vehicle, regardless of engine size or condition, pays three times the rate applied to an equivalent LHD car.
The 3x excise cliff
Law N1477-VMS-XIMP, effective 2 April 2026, restructures excise by engine displacement and vehicle age. The base rates are 4.5 GEL per cc for vehicles older than 6 years and 1.5 GEL per cc for vehicles 6 years old or newer. Left-hand-drive hybrids receive a 60% reduction. Electric vehicles are fully exempt, with no age cap applied.
For right-hand-drive vehicles, the law applies a 3x multiplier to the base rate in either age bracket. A typical 1.5-litre Japanese hatchback older than 6 years — the core of the RHD segment — faces an excise charge of roughly 4.5 × 1,500 × 3 = 20,250 GEL, or approximately $7,670 at the current exchange rate of 2.641 GEL per USD. On a car with a median ask of $5,200, that surcharge exceeds the vehicle's market value. Even at 1.5 GEL per cc for a sub-6-year car, the 3x multiplier produces a bill of around $2,557 — a meaningful addition to a $5,200 purchase.
The law does not distinguish between steering configurations for safety or emissions reasons; the multiplier is categorical. Every RHD vehicle, regardless of engine size or condition, pays three times the rate applied to an equivalent LHD car.
RHD vs. LHD: Price, Age, and Turnover Compared
The legacy buffer and what comes next
A significant fraction of current RHD listings — 55.1% — is already customs-cleared. These cars were imported before or shortly after the April cutoff and carry whatever excise burden applied at the time of clearance. For buyers, cleared RHD stock in the next few weeks represents the last of the pre-surcharge pipeline at prices that still reflect the old cost structure.
The 44.9% of RHD listings that are not yet cleared face the full Law N1477 rate on entry. As that cleared legacy stock is absorbed — and at 8-day median turnover it will be absorbed quickly — the supply of affordable RHD cars will depend entirely on whether new imports can be priced through the surcharge and still find buyers.
The Japan channel under pressure
Georgia's Geostat data for January through April 2026 shows Japan as the third-largest import origin by unit count: 5,493 vehicles, averaging $21,654. That average reflects a Japan-origin mix that includes both RHD and the smaller LHD Japanese export segment. The RHD share of that channel is exposed to the multiplier in a way that LHD Japanese cars are not.
Importers who have built their model on high-rotation, low-price Japanese RHD stock face a structural cost increase that cannot simply be passed through on a $5,200 car. The arithmetic does not support it. The more likely outcome is a contraction of the channel: fewer importers bringing RHD inventory, fewer listings, and upward pressure on prices for what remains — precisely the opposite of what buyers in the budget tier need.
Methodology
AutoBridge active-listing snapshot as of 2026-06-22, filtered on steering_side field; 1,525 RHD and 27,477 LHD records; median price, median model year, customs-clearance rate, and days-to-sale computed from this dataset. · RHD 3x excise multiplier sourced from Law N1477-VMS-XIMP (effective 2026-04-02); base rates 4.5 GEL/cc (>6yr) and 1.5 GEL/cc (<=6yr); illustrative excise figures computed from these rates at USD/GEL 2.641 (2026-06-22). · Japan import origin data: Geostat, January–April 2026 (5,493 units, average $21,654). · Caveat: days-to-sale is a median of time-on-market for currently active listings and may understate actual sale timelines; cleared-status field reflects importer declaration, not customs verification.
Over 128,000 unique listings published since January 1, 2026.