Israelis bought 16,400 Turkish-made cars in January-August 2011, worth an estimated NIS 1.64 billion. Many Israelis are unaware that many Japanese, Korean, and European car models are actually built in Turkey. These cars account for 10.1% of all car and commercial vehicles sales in Israel, and Israel is one of the Turkish car industry's main export markets.
Turkish-built models in Israel are the Honda Civic, Toyota Yaris, Toyota Verso, Hyundai Accent, Hyundai I20, Renault Cleo, Renault Fluence and Fluence ZE (the electric for Better Place LLC), Citroen Berlingo van, Fiat Doblo truck, and Ford Connect transit van.
The drop in private consumption, upheaval on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE), and security incidents, did not affect car sales in August. 19,932 new vehicles were delivered in August, 7% more than in August 2010. 162,302 new vehicles were delivered in January-August, 14% more than in the corresponding months of last year, and sales are heading for an all-time annual high.
Three of the top five brands in Israel are Korean, because prices are listed in dollars. Hyundai is the top-seller, with 23,330 deliveries in January-August, up 18.3% on the corresponding months. Mazda, whose prices are listed in yen, which is appreciating strongly, is in second place, with 17,286 deliveries in January-August, down 18% compared with the corresponding months. Toyota is in third place with 14,145 deliveries, down 3%; Kia Motors is in fourth place with 10,810 deliveries, up 101%; and Chevrolet is in fifth place with 10,425 deliveries, up 50%.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on September 4, 2011
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2011