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JDM History

Figures to August 2026 ·

Japanese car imports: the monthly tracker

Japan shipped 3,115 used cars to the UK in August 2026, up 51% on August 2025, and 58% of them were hybrids. That makes 35,702 in the last 12 months. Below: what they are, where they land, what they’re declared at, and how Japan’s count compares with HMRC’s.

35,702

used cars shipped from Japan in 12 months

up 50% on the 12 months before

59%

of them hybrids

A year earlier: 56%

617

kei cars (660 cc or less)

1.7% of used cars from Japan

£3,364

average value declared to UK customs

A year earlier: £3,246

Used cars shipped from Japan to the UK, month by month

From Japan’s export figures, by the month the cars left Japan. They arrive four to eight weeks later. Hover a month for its figures; the table further down has them too.

Year by year

Used cars shipped from Japan to the UK by Japan’s count, and used cars from Japan cleared through UK customs by HMRC’s, since hybrids got their own customs codes in 2017.

YearShipped from JapanChangeHybridsKei carsCleared UK customsAverage declared
2026to August24,71060%45146,230to Aug£3,329
202527,009up 29%56%40345,164£3,329
202420,888down 23%56%23434,411£2,821
202327,140up 42%57%17936,287£2,921
202219,145up 24%54%8424,672£2,765
202115,389up 59%28%7818,210£2,773
20209,654down 30%32%6614,095£2,526
201913,776up 42%61%4115,770£2,739
20189,712up 55%41%4411,390£3,262
20176,26722%217,933£3,070

Hybrid, petrol or diesel

Used cars shipped from Japan to the UK in the 12 months to August 2026 by what powers them, against the 12 months before.

12 months to Aug 2026 The 12 months before
  • Hybrid21,123 cars59%vs 56%
  • Petrol13,786 cars39%vs 43%
  • Diesel436 cars1.2%vs 0.8%
  • Plug-in hybrid161 cars0.5%vs 0.4%
  • Electric188 cars0.5%vs 0.2%

Petrol imports by engine size

Japan’s export codes split petrol cars (not hybrids) by engine size, and give kei cars, Japan’s 660 cc class, their own code. Used petrol cars shipped to the UK in the 12 months to August 2026.

  • Kei, up to 660 cc617 cars4.5%
  • 661 to 1,000 cc549 cars4.0%
  • 1,001 to 1,500 cc5,072 cars37%
  • 1,501 to 2,000 cc2,591 cars19%
  • 2,001 to 3,000 cc3,670 cars27%
  • Over 3,000 cc1,287 cars9.3%

Where they come in

The ports HMRC recorded for used cars from Japan clearing UK customs in the 12 months to August 2026.

  • Southampton36,414 cars58%
  • Felixstowe6,959 cars11%
  • Liverpool6,659 cars11%
  • London Gateway5,730 cars9.1%
  • Avonmouth4,052 cars6.4%
  • Tyne2,438 cars3.9%
  • Belfast608 cars1.0%
  • Thamesport201 cars0.3%

Why Japan’s count and HMRC’s don’t match

In 2025 Japan recorded 27,009 used cars shipped to the UK. HMRC recorded 45,164 used cars from Japan clearing UK customs. Some of the gap is timing: a car shipped in December clears customs in January or February. Most of it isn’t.

Japan counts cars by where they are shipped to. HMRC counts cars by the country they came from, wherever they go next. Ireland buys many used cars from Japan (14,881 in 2025, by Japan’s count), and some of them come in through British ports. Add Japan’s count for Ireland to its count for the UK and you get 41,890 for 2025, close to HMRC’s 45,164. That suggests many of the extra cars HMRC counts are bound for Ireland and cleared through UK customs on the way, though the published figures can’t prove it.

The fuel split differs too. Japan’s exporters put 59% of used cars to the UK under the hybrid codes; UK import declarations put only 8.7% there. The likeliest reason is that many UK declarations record hybrids under the petrol codes, so we use Japan’s figures for the fuel split and engine sizes, and HMRC’s for values and ports.

By HMRC’s count, Japan supplied 91% of all the used cars the UK imported in the 12 months to August 2026 (63,283 of 69,759).

Every month

The last two years. Download every month since 2017 as a CSV file.

MonthShipped from JapanOn a year earlierHybridsCleared UK customsAverage declared
August 20263,115up 51%1,8056,084£3,357
July 20262,736up 4%1,8086,874£2,955
June 20264,024up 65%2,6726,995£3,076
May 20263,122up 26%1,7966,994£2,936
April 20264,165up 127%2,3805,636£3,500
March 20262,861up 67%1,6684,040£3,539
February 20263,000up 61%1,6764,405£4,838
January 20261,687up 66%1,0315,202£3,030
December 20252,873up 46%1,7375,140£3,386
November 20252,734up 27%1,5724,431£3,241
October 20253,005up 52%1,6353,723£3,652
September 20252,380up 41%1,3433,759£3,630
August 20252,057up 105%1,1765,066£3,322
July 20252,620up 39%1,4883,906£3,490
June 20252,439up 62%1,4203,199£3,102
May 20252,469up 37%1,3793,077£3,739
April 20251,836down 16%1,0433,634£2,729
March 20251,711down 24%9182,614£3,264
February 20251,869up 3%9133,134£2,947
January 20251,016up 53%6053,481£3,386
December 20241,969down 27%1,1343,342£3,088
November 20242,154down 13%1,2362,042£2,973
October 20241,977down 32%1,1372,343£3,033
September 20241,683down 27%8792,781£3,783

Buying one of them?

Every import arrives with a history in Japan that UK checks don’t see. Run a free check, read the auction sheet, look for Japanese recalls, or see how imports do at the MOT.

Questions

How many used cars does the UK import from Japan?
Japan’s export figures show 35,702 used cars shipped to the UK in the 12 months to August 2026, and 27,009 in 2025. HMRC counted 63,283 used cars from Japan clearing UK customs in the 12 months to August 2026; the two are counted differently, so they don’t match.
How many Japanese imports are hybrids?
59% of the used cars Japan shipped to the UK in the 12 months to August 2026 were petrol hybrids, against 56% a year earlier.
How many kei cars come to the UK?
617 used petrol cars of 660 cc or less, the Japanese kei class, were shipped to the UK in the 12 months to August 2026: 1.7% of all used cars from Japan.
Where do cars from Japan arrive in the UK?
Southampton handled 58% of the used cars from Japan that cleared UK customs in the 12 months to August 2026, followed by Felixstowe and Liverpool.
What is the average value of a used car imported from Japan?
£3,364 as declared to UK customs in the 12 months to August 2026. That is usually the price paid in Japan plus shipping and insurance, before import duty and VAT, so it is well below what the cars sell for here.
When is this updated?
Japan publishes a month’s export figures about four weeks after it ends, and HMRC its import figures about six weeks after. We check twice a week and update this page when either changes. Last updated 23 October 2026.

How we worked these out

  • Japan’s side: Trade Statistics of Japan, Ministry of Finance, export figures by statistical code and destination, from e-Stat. Totalled and processed by JDM History; not produced by the Government of Japan. Cars count in the month they were exported, and Japan’s codes say whether each car is used.
  • The UK side: HMRC’s Overseas Trade Statistics, which count goods as they clear UK customs. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. The totals and any errors are ours, not HMRC’s.
  • “Cars” means customs heading 8703: cars, people carriers, SUVs and motor caravans. Vans and pick-ups such as the Hiace are heading 8704 and aren’t counted. Diesel hybrids and a few rare engine types don’t say new or used in HMRC’s codes, so they’re left out of HMRC’s used totals.
  • Some UK declarations give impossible car counts, such as tens of thousands of cars weighing about 100 kg each. Where a row’s count doesn’t fit its weight, we estimate the count from the weight, using the typical weight for that customs code.
  • Values are what was declared to UK customs, normally the price paid plus shipping and insurance, before import duty and VAT. They aren’t what the cars sell for here.
  • Both countries revise recent months as late declarations come in, so the latest figures can change a little. We fetch the whole series again each time.