Chinese cars in Israel: which brands sell there and since when

Israel has no domestic car industry and no protective tariff to defend, and Chinese brands have taken a larger share of it than of any other developed market. The Israel Vehicle Importers Association reported that Chinese manufacturers sold 101,346 vehicles in Israel in 2025, ahead of South Korean brands on 52,468 and Japanese brands on 41,120. The single best-selling model of the year was the Jaecoo 7 plug-in hybrid, a Chery Group product, at 13,166 units. Chinese manufacturers accounted for 79.2% of the electric-vehicle market, 46,075 units. Earlier in the year, Ministry of Transport licensing figures showed 30,693 Chinese-built vehicles delivered in January to April 2025, 26.3% of all deliveries and up 24.4% on the same months of 2024.

The importers are the established Israeli groups rather than the manufacturers. Shlomo Motors is the exclusive importer for BYD, which entered Israel in late 2022 and now offers the Atto 3, Dolphin, Seal, Sealion and Tang alongside plug-in hybrids; BYD delivered 8,134 vehicles in 2025. Frisbee, formerly Carasso, imports Chery and Xpeng alongside Renault and Nissan; Chery delivered 6,620 units and Xpeng 6,114 in 2025. Union Motors imports Geely and Aion beside Toyota and Lexus, and the Union group also brought Zeekr to Israel. Lubinski imports MG, and Delek Motors imports Dongfeng. Jaecoo was new to the market in 2024 and took 5,041 deliveries in its first four months of 2025 alone.

Taxation, not trade policy, is the lever the state pulls. Israel's green-taxation framework sets the purchase tax on electric cars year by year: 45% in 2025 with a benefit ceiling of NIS 35,000. The Tax Authority published a proposal to set the rate at 52% for 2026 with the ceiling cut to NIS 30,000; the Knesset Finance Committee rejected 52% and the rate applied from 2026 was reported as 48%, with the exempt amount cut to NIS 22,000.

There is one security restriction and one pending law. The Israel Defense Forces removed Chinese-made vehicles from military bases, and Chinese electric vehicles are prohibited from entering them. The Ministry of Transport published a memorandum in September 2025 proposing to let the minister determine what manufacturers may change through over-the-air updates and what data a vehicle may collect; the resulting bill was submitted to the Knesset in December 2025 and had not advanced when this record was checked.