Who sold the most and how much of it to leasing

December ended with a particularly modest dedication of about 6,000 new cars, raising the number of new cars purchased by Israelis from car importers during 2020 to about 216,000. Together with the cars purchased from parallel imports, and taxis, 225,000 cars went up on Israeli roads in the corona year – a decrease of only 15% in dedication compared to last year and a much lower decrease than the black forecasts with the outbreak of the corona.

This is not because Israelis are steering wheel enthusiasts, but for a much simpler reason: it seems that the state is doing everything it can to keep us driving (and of course padding the Treasury with tens of billions of shekels every year), and avoiding improving public transportation as needed, facilitating motorized two-wheelers Or from creating a suitable infrastructure for personal transportation.

Preliminary licensing data obtained by Yedioth Ahronoth and Ynet reveal this year’s winners and losers, and especially the decline in car sales to leasing and rental companies. For in 2020, the market share of private customers jumped to 61%, compared to 59% in 2019. Throughout the year, private customers purchased 137,000 new cars, a figure that represents a decrease of 12%. The institutional market, on the other hand, purchased 87,000 cars, which is already a decrease of 20%. Much of this decline is due to the debt of rental companies that rely on the tourism industry, which froze this year. These bought only about 4,000 new cars, compared to almost 11,000 last year.

And who sold the most to private clients and not to leasing companies and the rest of the institutional market? Hyundai, which in first place in dedication with 33.5 thousand cars, delivered 48% to private customers. Toyota (32.5 thousand) gave 50% to individuals while Kia (26.1 thousand) gave 61%. Skoda (19.1 thousand) gave 51% to private individuals and Mitsubishi which closes the top five (12.9 thousand) stands at 59%.

Another standout: Seat first crossed the 10,000 dedication threshold, but only 45% of its sales were to private customers. Renault (7,700) delivered only 43% to private individuals, the lowest rate among popular brands. Suzuki (9,300) delivered 79% to private individuals, a relatively high rate, but one that also shows that it is entering the fleet game, after until two or three years ago, 90% of its sales were private.

And which of the models was the favorite of leasing? Only about 180 cars (9%) of the nearly 2,000 Hyundai Accent cars sold this year were purchased by private customers. This is compared to 21% of about 10,000 Hyundai Ionic, 25% of 800 Mitsubishi Atrez, 30% of 4,800 Renault Megane and 31% of 850 Nissan Center. Also prominent were the Skoda Octavia (38% for private individuals), the Seat Arona (43%), and the sales queen Toyota Corolla, which accounted for 37% of the 14,000 cars it delivered to private individuals. Parallel import sales this year reached about 6,000 cars, of which more than 2,000 are Corolla models.

2020 was a record year for green car sales: with no less than 41,000 “regular” hybrid cars led by Toyota Corolla and Hyundai Ionic, alongside 4,700 rechargeable hybrids led by Kia Niro (about 1,200), Mitsubishi Outlander (510) and BMW 330e with 372 new cars.

Even fully electric car sales recorded a record with 1,486 dedications. MG ZS EV leads with 686 new cars, Audi e-tron with 330, ahead of GAC GE3 (with 147), Renault Zoe (109), Jaguar i-Pace and Nissan Leaf (60 units each). The Peugeot e2008 delivered 31 units, one more than the Hyundai Ionic. The new Mercedes EQC and Porsche Takeken delivered 13 units each, Smart delivered the first 10 trams and Tesla put 10 cars on the road that are used by the company’s Israeli affiliate but were all registered as private. This year, the number of trams is expected to double, with more than 400 trams expected in January alone.

The Toyota Corolla is the best-selling family car in the past year, while the Kia Picanto is the best-selling mini car (8,000 units). The Hyundai i20 is the best-selling supermini (6,760) and the Skoda Superb is the most popular family car this year (1,980). Seat Arona (3,970) is the best-selling small Jeep, Kia Niro is the best-selling mid-size Jeep (5,750). The larger Toyota Rav 4 has sold (5,200) and the Skoda Kodiak is the best-selling 7-seater recreational vehicle with 4,950 units.

In the luxury category, Audi continues to maintain its senior position with 3,200 cars, ahead of Mercedes (3,125 privacy), BMW (2,335), Volvo (1,745) and Lexus (1,480). In more expensive worlds, Porsche delivered 183 cars, Bentley delivered 19 units and Ferrari six cars, two of which were in the expensive leasing deals of the year. Aston Martin settled for just three cars.

Surprisingly, this year there is a revival in the sports model sales market. Audi has delivered 49 S and RS models, BMW has brought 78 different M models to the road and Mercedes 125 AMG models. More that we applaud and ask for a round: Audi TT has 70 new cars, Mercedes GT cars have 58 new owners, 30 new Porsche 718 Boxster and Cayman cars hit the road this year, 29 BMW Z4 buyers and 21 Porsche 911 buyers.

Also, 13 Israelis personally imported a new Chevrolet Corvette C8, six Nissan GTRs, and there were also those with a (slightly) more sane price tag: in the parallel import channels, 65 Chevrolet Camaros and 58 Ford Mustangs arrived in Israel, to which were added 47 Subaru BRZ units. And 12 Mazda Miata.