ŠKODA: The strongest European brand in Israel

› Around 20,000 deliveries in the first eleven months of 2018; Market share is 8.0%
› RAPID and SUPERB were Israel’s most popular vehicles in their segment in 2017
› ŠKODA has been firmly established in Israel since the early 1990s

Mladá Boleslav/Tel Aviv, 6 December 2018 – ŠKODA is the strongest European car manufacturer in Israel. With approximately 20,000 deliveries between January and November 2018, the Czech brand is successfully represented on the Israeli market by the importer Champion Motors. Over the past decade, the brand has almost quadrupled its deliveries to customers, with its market share climbing to 8.0 percent.

In 1991, ŠKODA exported its first models to Israel – the FAVORIT and FORMAN. To date, the traditional Czech brand has delivered more than 200,000 vehicles in the region. Between January and the end of November 2018, around 20,000 vehicles were delivered to Israeli customers. Since 2011, the brand’s market share has almost doubled from 4.1 percent to 8.0 percent. The manufacturer is strengthening its position as the fourth strongest competitor in the Israeli vehicle market, a position it has held since 2015. The most popular vehicles in their respective segments in 2017 were the ŠKODA models RAPID and SUPERB. The OCTAVIA also secured a key position of second place in the compact segment. The ŠKODA KODIAQ was also voted Car of the Year in the ‘Large SUV’ category this year in Israel. In terms of engine/transmission combinations, Israeli customers prefer petrol engines with automatic transmissions. It takes around one month for a vehicle to reach Israel. The models are transported by ship from Koper, Slovenia to the Israeli port in Ashdod.

The fleet business accounts for around 50 percent of ŠKODA AUTO’s total sales in Israel. In addition to numerous banking companies, wholesalers and telecommunications companies, Israeli ministries and other state authorities rely on ŠKODA vehicles. In 2016, Importer Champion Motors delivered a total of around 850 vehicles to government institutions: more than 700 ŠKODA OCTAVIAs were deployed to various ministries, and more than 100 ŠKODA SUPERBs were commissioned by senior police officers and other ministries. In addition, almost 40 more ŠKODA SUPERBs were delivered to ministers, supreme judges and ministerial directors.

The three largest Israeli fleet customers from the financial sector ordered 1,200 vehicles from ŠKODA – equivalent to more than 40 percent of the total number of company cars at these three companies. In addition, ŠKODA AUTO is also firmly established as a fleet partner in the Israeli high-tech sector.

ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab is represented by a joint venture in the IT hotspot of Israel
ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab and the Israeli ŠKODA importer Champion Motors founded a joint venture in Tel Aviv in 2017. The partnership aims to continually engage with regional players on the IT scene as well as companies and universities. Israel currently has more than 6,000 start-ups, around 300 R&D facilities of multinational companies and hundreds of high-tech companies. The automotive industry in Israel is a key driver and user of this dynamic development. More than 500 startups and research groups in Israel are currently involved in automotive projects – six times as many as in 2013.