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Tesla has received a commercial import license from the Israeli Ministry of Transport. This means that the company can start importing its vehicles in Israel in any volume. Online sales are expected to begin within a few days.
Tesla received the status of an official importer of cars to Israel. The Israeli online publication Globes reports that Tesla has received a license from the Ministry of Transport to commercialize its vehicles, allowing full imports to begin with no volume restrictions. Until then, Tesla could operate in Israel as a "small importer,” allowing up to twenty vehicles to be imported, which were mainly used for testing.
Tesla became the first foreign car manufacturing company to receive a license to directly import and sell cars in Israel. Prior to this, all car manufacturers could only import and sell their vehicles through a local dealer or in partnership with a dealer.
Until September 2019, Israeli law required that at least 90% of the shares of a company that imports cars in Israel be owned by Israelis. But, starting in September 2019, for the company to work, it is only necessary that the company be headed by an Israeli. This made it possible for Tesla to fully enter the country's market.
The California-based manufacturer will begin accepting online orders from Israeli customers in the next few days. Delivery may begin in Q2 2021, although this depends directly on the situation with COVID-19 and the associated possible lockdown.
At the moment, Tesla is actively exploring places for Superchargers and is obtaining licenses to install them. In addition to this, the company is taking steps to expedite the issuance of permits for the installation of charging points in public buildings and apartment buildings.
Initially, the Tesla Model 3 will be on sale in Israel. The sales of other models will begin later. The cost of Model 3 is expected to range from NIS 250,000 ($77,900) to NIS 350,000 ($109,085), depending on the version.
© 2020, Eva Fox. All rights reserved.
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Article edited by @SmokeyShorts, you can follow him on Twitter
About the Author
Eva Fox
Eva Fox joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover breaking news as an automotive journalist. The main topics that she covers are clean energy and electric vehicles. As a journalist, Eva is specialized in Tesla and topics related to the work and development of the company.
