Every tenth person reports: How the customs clearance reform is changing the Georgian car market.
In Georgia, the structure of car imports has changed dramatically: the increase in customs clearance prices for cars with internal combustion engines has resulted in the contraction of the market, but has pushed car enthusiasts to purchase hybrid and electric vehicles.
According to statistics from the Ministry of the Interior of Georgia, in the third quarter of 2026, 40,053 cars were registered in the country - this is 9.4% less than the corresponding period last year. The reason for the overall decline was a record drop in the import of gasoline and diesel cars. During July-September, 23,925 units were registered, which is immediately 23% lower than last year.
The change in demand was a direct result of the tax reform. Since April 2026, the Georgian authorities have increased the excise duty on customs clearance of cars with internal combustion engines over 6 years old by 4.5 times, at the same time as the current ban on the import of cars below the Euro-5 standard. At the same time, the government maintained a 60% discount on the excise duty for "young" hybrids (up to the age of 6) and left a zero excise duty rate for electric vehicles.
As a result, the share of "environmentally friendly" transport in new registrations increased from 30% to 40% during the year:.
Electric vehicles: sales jumped 116% to 4,556 units. Every tenth car (11.37%) registered in the third quarter of 2026 was electric. For comparison, a year earlier their share was only 4.76% (every twenty).
Hybrids: 11,464 cars were registered during the quarter, and their share in total imports increased from 24.5% to 28.62%.
In the electric vehicle segment, Tesla remains the undisputed market leader. During the third quarter, 2,593 Teslas were registered in Georgia (+154% compared to last year) - this is more than half of the total volume of all imported electric cars. It is closely followed by Nissan (433 units, +53%), Chevrolet (190, +153%), Ford (154, +267%) and Volkswagen (145, +174%). It is worth noting that the Chinese giant BYD showed negative dynamics: 133 cars (-28%).
Despite the sharp jump in the import of new technologies, Georgia's vehicle fleet is slowly changing its structure.