The Tax Authority published today (Thursday) the first part of the periodic review of the automotive industry for 2024.
The review shows that 2024 was a year of very high activity in the automotive industry, despite being a year of war. A total of 336.4 thousand vehicles were imported to Israel - an increase of 14.41% compared to 2023, of which 325.9 thousand were passenger vehicles.
This is the second highest annual figure in the country's history, after 2016.
The background to the increased imports in 2024 is a certain recovery experienced by the market from the effects of the war, alongside importers' adaptation to transportation difficulties following Houthi attacks, and importers' desire to advance imports before the tax increases that took effect in 2025.
As a result of this import advance, a third of the annual imports for 2024 arrived in December alone, with a particularly high proportion of electric vehicles.
Alongside the increase in the quantity of imported vehicles, there was relative stability in the value of imports, that is, in the value of the vehicles imported. The total shekel value of vehicles imported to Israel in 2024 amounted to 25.4 billion shekels - a real increase of only 1.4%, compared to an increase of 14.4% in the quantity of imported vehicles.
The decrease in import value can be attributed to a decrease in transportation and insurance costs, along with the entry into the market of large quantities of cheap electric vehicles made in China.
The trend of reducing tax benefits for vehicles with advanced propulsion systems continued in 2024. After the tax benefit for non-rechargeable hybrid vehicles was abolished in 2022, the tax benefit for rechargeable hybrid vehicles was also abolished in 2024.
Also, the purchase tax on an electric vehicle, which increased from 10% to 20% in 2023, increased in 2024 to 35%.
Despite the trend of reducing tax benefits, which came in response to the increase in the penetration of these models into the market, the trend of increasing imports of these vehicles continued in 2024 and for the first time, the weight of vehicles with advanced propulsion - hybrid, plug-in and electric - was more than half of the passenger vehicles registered in traffic that year (25.4% electric, 23.4% non-charged hybrid, 2.5% charged hybrid).
Join the Haredim 10 Facebook page >>
Join the X page of Haredim 10 >>
Want more news, videos and stories? Join the Haredim 10 WhatsApp channel >>
