In the 90’s the JDM power restrictions along with licence restrictions that made it difficult to be licensed on larger motorcycles resulted in a number of models that were not offered anywhere else in the world, with 250cc and 400cc miniature replicas of the bigger 750cc & 900cc bikes.
At the same time Japan had particularly tough laws regarding road licensing and sales regulations. Any motorcycle more powerful than 250cc had to take a extensively stringent test every two years.
Combining these factors with a virtually non-existent second hand market made it economic to export the nearly new bikes abroad where they were eagerly bought and a number of import specialists sprung up to cater for this «grey import» market of relatively inexpensive but interesting motorcycles.
In the later 90’s as Japan’s economy fell into recession it became less profitable to export and Japanese owners held on to their bikes for longer. The last global crash all but ended the «grey import» industry with the big specialist importers closing down.
Cars Edit
The Japanese domestic market has been growing significantly since the late 1990s.[4] Many car enthusiasts are attracted to the Japanese domestic market in different continents such as North America, Europe, and Asia. Popular brands include Honda, Subaru, Toyota, Mazda, Suzuki, Lexus, Mitsubishi Motors and Nissan.
Ex-Japan Imports are also very common in New Zealand where 59% of vehicles registered on New Zealand roads originated from overseas markets as opposed to 41% of which were delivered NZ-New. Of this, 94% originate from Japan.[5] New Zealand imported an average of 134,834 JDM vehicles per year in the period 2015-2019,[6] the majority of which were Mazda Axela, Suzuki Swift, Nissan Tiida, Toyota Corolla and Mazda Demio.[7] Other models popular for importation in previous years include performance vehicles (Honda Tourneo, Nissan Skyline, Nissan Laurel and Toyota Altezza), and kei cars (Suzuki Carry, Daihatsu Move, Subaru R2). Due to the popularity of used imports from Japan, and their relatively low crash-test ratings, the Ministry of Transport is currently investigating tougher restrictions on imported vehicles, most notably on the importation of the Toyota Corolla, Mazda Demio and Suzuki Swift.[8]
In 2004, importing JDM cars became popular in Canada as highly sought after vehicles, such as the 1989 Nissan Skyline GT-R, became eligible to import under Canada’s 15-year rule.[9] In contrast, importing grey market vehicles into the United States is much more difficult.[10] To avoid regulatory problems, most private individuals wait until EPA restrictions no longer apply to the desired vehicle, which is done on a rolling 25-year cycle.[1
car 