Importers: Israel Added 220 Cars Per Hour in January

January set a new record for car deliveries – not just in the number of vehicles purchased and delivered, but in the types of cars Israelis bought. A total of 44,000 cars were delivered in January, which comes out to 1,760 a day – or 220 every hour.

With that, industry experts said, many of those cars were “special purchases,” ordered by Israelis in December to avoid tax hikes on vehicles that went into effect on the first of January. However, the experts said that the market was certainly strong enough, and that the February figures would likely evoke good performance as well.

Among the vehicles delivered in January were many luxury vehicles, including top-of-the-line SUVs and top international brands, like Lexus and Mercedes. 1,100 of the German nameplate’s vehicles were delivered in January, the same amount that had been delivered in a full year just several years ago. 100 of the vehicles were S-class cars, which sell for between NIS 800,000 and NIS 1.1 million. The S500 hybrid vehicle was also popular. That car sells for NIS 750,000.