Israel Car/LCV Sales : 2025 (Jan-July)

Despite all the goings on in Israel, car and light commercial sales are going well and heading for an increase over last year. 

Hyundai surrendered its top spot last year but got the jump on Toyota early in 2025. However, Toyota is fighting back and there is nothing between them just past the half way stage. 

Kia was the second best selling brand in 2023 but this is the fourth year of reduced market share. The number of new brands arriving is no doubt contributing to that but not entirely. This is Chery's third full year in Israel and it currently fourth. Jaecoo (optimistically pictured above) is in its first full year and already sixth.

Data source: Israel Vehicle Importers Association. Picture: Jaecoo Israel.

Panamá Car & LCV Sales : 2025 (Jan-Jun)

Toyota took the lead in Panamá during 2024 and hasn't looked back. So far this year, it has taken one in five sales and that is substantial in a market not protecting local manufacturers through import duties. 

Kia and Hyundai also do well but then it drops away quite sharply. Asian brands are the most popular with many new Chinese ones adding to that. 

In all eighty brands are competing here in the passenger car and light commercial sector. Despite that, as we have seen, the big guns are still firing plenty of shots back. 

Hong Kong Passenger Car Sales : 2024

It's been a while since Hong Kong has graced these blog pages. My first attempt included used imports which have now been weeded out. That reduced the total by 6,000 and hit mainly Japanese brands as they drive on the same side of the road and is presumably the source of most used imports. So let's see how things went in 2024. 

First up, some background. HK doesn't limit car ownership like Singapore, with its certificate system that caps the number of cars on the road. Instead, high registration taxes, parking fees and tolls are used to discourage both car ownership and their use. This is backed up with a quality public transportation system that offers an affordable alternative.  

As for vehicle type, electric cars have become very popular. This has given Chinese brand sales real impetus, as we can see below. Tesla is on top despite sales volume remaining the same. Holding a over 20% share is impressive but with so many electric brands arriving, surely that is an untenable level of success.

Premium marques certainly didn't have a good year. Maxus has seemingly come out of nowhere and smart (picture above) came from years of obscurity to a top ten position with its new electric car range. Brands that sell fossil fuel cars will increasingly be marginalised. 

Data source: HK Transport Department.