Car Sales Plummet in April

After a record sales month in January, April marked the third month in a row of skidding sales in the Israeli car market. A total of 19,515 vehicles were delivered to customers in April, 14.9 percent fewer than in April 2016. That figure was also lower than the number of vehicles sold in March of this year, with sales shrinking by 1.3 percent in April compared to that month, business daily TheMarker reported.

Economists said that it was unclear why sales have been falling in recent months. The fact that Pesach fell out this year in April does not seem to be the reason for the fall in sales, as Pesach was in April last year too, although there were two fewer days of Chol Hamoed this year.

Despite the fall in deliveries in the past three months, deliveries in the first quarter of 2017 have so far been 4.1 percent higher than the same period in 2016, with the January figures strong enough to compensate for the weakness of the subsequent months. The most popular vehicle so far in 2017 has been Hyundai, with over 18,000 vehicles sold. Kia was in second place, with 14,600 vehicles sold, followed by Toyota (12,500), Skoda (9,000) and Nissan (6,300).