Gov’t: More Cars Than Ever on Roads

YERUSHALAYIM
Imported cars in the port of Eilat. (Matanya Tausig/Flash90)

Predictions of a fall in car sales this year were radically off. According to government statistics, over 100,000 new vehicles were imported into Israel during the first four months of 2018 – an 83.2 percent rise over the numbers imported during the same period in 2017, according to the Tax Authority.

In April alone, 22,568 vehicles were imported, compared to 16,667 in April 2017. Since the beginning of the year through April 30th, a total of 108,244 vehicles were sold. The import of commercial vehicles, on the other hand, rose in April 2018, compared to a year before. 811 such vehicles were imported this April, compared to 629 in April 2017, a rise of 22.4 percent.

The Authority explained the increase as being due to the reduction of a 2017 tax imposed on the purchase of “green,” environmentally safer vehicles. Officials had predicted that the rate of vehicle purchases would fall in 2018, but the trend in sales has been on the increase since July 2017, the Authority said.

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