Israel Car Sales By Brand : 2000-04

Sales were fairly strong in 2000 but fell away in 2001 and then slumped in 2002. The only reason I could find was the Second Intifada, a Palestinian uprising that lasted until around early 2005. Things were starting to improve again for car dealers about 2004.

The Israeli car market is Asian leaning, with European brands playing a limited role. In 2004, counting brands as colour listed below by region, Asian brands had 62% of total sales, Europe 23% and US 15%. As to why Mazda cars were so popular I cannot say, but if anyone can clarify that, please feel free.

With VW and Fiat falling away during this period, only three were in the top ten. VW's share went down from 8.7% to 2.8%. Meanwhile Ford and GM US moved up the rankings. Daewoo had been a popular brand but crashed as the company ran into financial trouble.

00	01	02	03	04		2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	%
1	1	1	1	1	Mazda	24,434	17,262	16,255	20,755	24,187	17.0%
3	6	8	3	2	Hyundai	13,484	8,784	6,296	10,941	20,182	14.2%
5	5	2	2	3	Toyota	10,758	11,047	13,123	13,564	15,143	10.6%
9	8	7	4	4	Ford	7,899	7,662	6,687	10,438	10,600	7.4%
14	21	21	9	5	GM US	4,072	2,119	1,363	4,607	10,070	7.1%
4	3	4	5	6	Renault	13,102	12,064	9,871	6,941	8,918	6.3%
8	9	11	15	7	Mitsubishi	8,112	6,421	4,562	2,704	5,652	4.0%
7	4	3	7	8	Peugeot	8,595	11,381	10,919	6,306	5,643	4.0%
11	7	6	8	9	Citroen	6,992	8,126	7,824	6,123	5,635	4.0%
17	12	10	6	10	Honda	3,432	4,854	4,887	6,667	5,532	3.9%
16	15	13	11	11	Subaru	3,539	4,358	3,694	4,067	5,256	3.7%
12	11	12	12	12	Suzuki	5,295	5,435	4,218	3,125	4,426	3.1%
2	2	5	10	13	VW	14,463	16,428	8,387	4,343	4,047	2.8%
6	10	9	13	14	Fiat	9,008	5,610	5,633	2,994	2,747	1.9%
19	19	15	14	15	Isuzu	2,719	2,674	3,110	2,783	2,531	1.8%
18	13	16	16	16	Nissan	3,137	4,671	3,102	2,255	2,121	1.5%
22	22	17	20	17	Skoda	1,792	1,860	2,428	1,328	1,652	1.2%
15	17	19	17	18	Kia	3,599	3,000	1,797	1,810	1,431	1.0%
23	25	22	19	19	Daihatsu	1,701	1,163	1,265	1,347	1,023	0.7%
13	14	14	18	20	Opel	4,474	4,609	3,123	1,732	771	0.5%
20	16	18	21	21	Seat	2,648	3,367	2,036	900	769	0.5%
25	24	25	22	22	Mercedes	1,108	1,296	809	691	760	0.5%
26	26	24	23	23	BMW	833	782	1,001	689	716	0.5%
24	20	23	24	24	Audi	1,666	2,262	1,148	675	611	0.4%
21	23	20	25	25	Volvo	1,819	1,551	1,382	483	498	0.3%
	-	-	29	26	Ssangyong				128	498	0.3%
27	27	27	26	27	Chrysler	423	616	337	283	422	0.3%
30	30	30	27	28	Land Rover	121	151	115	175	209	0.1%
	-	-	-	29	smart					72
28	29	29	28	30	MG Rover	218	183	127	138	65
31	31	31	32	31	Jaguar	90	55	55	39	63
33	32	32	30	32	Saab	52	42	35	66	46
29	28	28	31	33	Alfa Romeo	153	331	174	59	45
34	34	33	33	34	Porsche	22	10	8	16	23
32	33	34	-	36	Tata	76	28	5		1
10	18	26	34	-	Daewoo	7,180	2,826	612	1
					Others	13	1	0	1	2
					Total	167,029	153,029	126,388	119,174	142,367

Car picture: Netcarshow.

Data source: Israel Vehicle Importers Association.