Israel 2024. Vehicle Market Stalls But EV Brands Ride Momentum

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The 2024 Mazda MX-30
The 2024 Mazda MX-30

Israeli Vehicles Market in 2024 showed little growth, with 271,709 units (+0.6%). Toyota tops charts as Hyundai and Kia lose ground. Xpeng and Zeekr rise quickly as EV segment powers ahead.

Market Trend and Outlook

The ongoing conflicts in the Middle East continue to weigh heavily on Israel’s economy, with GDP growth projected at 2.4% in 2025 and 4.6% in 2026. Military expenditure has surged, driving government demand, while labour shortages, particularly in construction, are constraining investment and fuelling price pressures. Inflation rose to 3.5% in 2024, partly due to supply chain disruptions and a VAT increase, but is expected to moderate to 2.9% by 2026 as supply constraints ease.
 
Foreign trade has been impacted by shipping disruptions and reduced airline connections, while the high-tech sector and tourism have struggled amid escalating tensions. Fiscal policy is turning restrictive, with tax hikes and cuts to civilian spending aimed at reducing a 7.5% GDP deficit in 2024. Labour shortages could be alleviated by reopening Palestinian work permits and attracting more foreign workers. Risks remain high, as renewed conflict could hurt public accounts and foreign investor confidence, while de-escalation could spark faster-than-expected economic recovery.
 

Israel’s EV market charged ahead in 2024, climbing 27.9% and now making up about 1/5 of total car sales. The surge was driven by the rapid rise of Chinese EV brands, which dominated the Top 10 rankings.

BYD led the pack with a commanding 30.1% market share, while Xpeng (3rd) and Zeekr (6th) skyrocketed, climbing several spots.

Overall, the Israeli vehicle market showed modest growth, inching up 0.6% to 271,709 units. A sluggish first quarter was offset by a strong finish, with double-digit gains in Q4 keeping the market steady.

Looking at cumulative data up to December brand-wise, the leader became Toyota -up 2 spots- at 34,464 sales (+8.2%), in front of Hyundai -down 1 spot- at 28,381 sales (-32.1%) and Kia -down 1 spot- at 25,727 registrations (-21.7%).

Skoda -up 1 spot- ranked into 4th with 19,260 sales (+32.4%), followed by BYD -down 1 spot- with 16,698 new registrations (+10.3%), Mazda at 13,716 (-0.5%) and Chery in 7th with 12,945 units sold (+16%).

Mitsubishi ranked into 8th with 10,572 sales (+2.7%), followed by Suzuki at  9,256 sales (+4.6%) and Seat -up 4 spots- with 8,729 registrations (+54.6%).

Medium-Term Market Trend

The Israeli vehicles market in the past decade has had two main trends. From 2013 to 2016 the market grew year-by-year starting at 208,614 in 2013 and ending at an all-time high of 281,736 light vehicle sales. In the following year the market reversed, falling for 4 years in a row and reaching 246,311 sales by the end of 2019.

With the arrival of the pandemic in 2020 the light vehicle market collapsed even further, reaching 211,322 new car registrations by the end of the year (-14.2%).

Luckily the market boomed in the following year, with 2021 reaching a new all-time high at 284,432 sales , a +34.6% year-on-year variation. The following year the market underperformed, with sales in 2022 reaching 268,141 (-7.3%). A combination of factors are behind the current industry struggle: the disruption in the global supply chain caused by a lack of raw materials, in particular for the production of microchips and Governments push towards Evs, an expensive alternative for low income consumers.

This conflict heavily effected the Israeli Vehicle Market, which totaled 268,878 new sales in 2023 and grew a mere 0.3%

Tables with sales figures

In the tables below we report sales for 10 Brands and top 10 Manufacturers Groups.

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