Israel Japan | Business Guide | 2023

I srael’s good public transport system, the government’s emphasis onmaking it an eco-friendly country and the high taxes on luxury and personal cars has meant that Israel’s automobile sector is unique; it is not defined by the number of homegrown car brands in the market or the car sales in the country. However, all that is changing. In the last few years, the demand for cars in Israel is surgingwith the entry of more eco- friendly variants into themarket. 2022 recorded 268 , 141 new registrations, a 7 . 3 % loss compared to the previous year. According to focus 2 move, an automotivemagazine, the following were the top automotive brands in 2022 . Hyundai maintained top positionwith 42 , 327 sales (- 1 . 4 %), followed by Kia at 38 , 224 sales (- 3 . 8 %) overtaking Toyota at 36 , 881 registrations (- 9 . 7 %). In fourth place was Mazda with 18 , 770 registrations (+ 24 . 7 %), followed by Skoda with 13 , 559 (- 27 . 2 %). However, where Israel is really shining is in automotive tech. With startups in this sector blazing a trail, the world’s best automotive brands are looking at Israel to develop innovative and state-of-the-art auto parts and power their new variants. World class brands like General Motors and Daimler have set up R&D centres in Israel. Companies like Ford have also set up scouting centres to keep up to date with innovation. Israel is offering a full suite of manufacturing support services to these companies that range fromproduct development in the initial stages to final production. Israel is home tomanymanufacturerswho assemble the final automotive products like buses, trailers, fire extinguishers, military vehicles and containers. About 60 -plus companies manufacture accessories and spare parts like batteries, air conditioning systems, fleet management systems, filters, brake diaphragms, electric starters etc. A whole host of companies also supply components that are added to complex systems in vehicles. Both veteran and new companies share space in themarket. Israel has also been at the forefront on automotive tech innovations. The challenges of navigating Tel Aviv’s traffic gave birth to two smart innovations – Waze, the crowd- sourced, real time traffic data app andMobileye, technology that assists driver functions. Google bought Waze for more than $ 1 billion in 2013 and Intel bought Mobileye for $ 15 billion in 2017 . This spurred a whole wave of innovations in this space. Today Israel has several tech companies working in the area of vehicular cybersecurity, in-car artificial intelligence, advanced driver-protection systems and more. As the need for vehicle increases, Israel will be the destination to equip next generation cars with AI, vehicle-to-everything communications, and cyber security. Made in Japan for the world Japan has the third-largest automotive industry in theworld. Japanese car brands are popular all around the world and at home. After the secondworldwar, Japanmade concerted efforts to rebuild the country and its economy, and the automotive industry became one of the drivers for growth. 38 > Smart Transportation > Sector Review The Smart Transportation industry is fuelled by tech Big automotive brands around the world look at Israel for AI and innovations to power next-gen vehicles Israel-Japan > Business Guide > 2023