After months of speculation, Tesla, the world's largest electric vehicle manufacturer, has confirmed its plans to enter the Israeli market.



Two weeks ago, Tesla registered a subsidiary of Israel under the name Tesla Motors Israel. The reason that the company was registered in the country is the rules governing the import of cars into Israel, which require that the company registered in Israel be the importer.





According to the entry in the company registry, the company’s business is "The importation, distribution, sale, maintenance and repair of electric vehicles and mobile energy storage systems, energy generation systems and equipment, including solar panels, solar energy systems, and / or other solar energy conversion systems, and in general all other energy generation systems, accompanying products, parts, accessories and accompanying equipment, and to develop, own, operate, purchase, sell, maintain, plan, engineer, obtain, build, install and order fixed energy storage systems , and energy generation systems and equipment (whether directly or by setting up special purpose entities formed for the purposes of maintaining assets as mentioned.) "

Image: emobilis / Facebook

This description indicates that Tesla aims to work in Israel not only in the sale of electric vehicles, but also in renewable energy sources, in particular solar energy.



SolarCity was founded in 2006. SolarCity recently launched the sale of a new generation-leading Solarglass Roof product that converts solar energy into electricity more efficiently than any other existing solution. Tesla's solution for private homes integrates with new charging stations, allowing people to store energy and use it for domestic purposes, such as charging an electric car or using it for any need at home, instead of transferring solar energy to the national grid. The venture began as a partnership with SolarCity, which Tesla acquired in 2016.



The registered office of the Israeli company is Naschitz Brandes Amir & Co., a law firm that represents Tesla in Israel.



According to Globes, in the past few months, Tesla has taken several preparatory steps to enter the Israeli market. As part of this, Tesla negotiated with companies involved in the installation of electric charging stations in order to deploy its own charging network in Israel. The listing for a Tesla country manager in Israel was posted on October 30, 2019. According to the job description, the person hired will be based in Tel Aviv, Israel.

The full-time, Tel Aviv-based position will include responsibility for “driving the Service, Sales and Delivery strategy and operations in Israel,” Tesla said in an online job posting. Additional responsibilities will include hiring a local workforce, liaising with the government where required, engaging suppliers to assist in market set up, developing the local market and participating in the “strategic design of our charging infrastructure footprint in the market to enable sales and engage customers.”

Tesla is in demand in Israel, which has tried several times to import American-made Teslas through third-party dealerships. But Elon Musk and Tesla executives rejected these requests.



Tesla’s business model does not allow third-party dealers to sell their cars, but instead prefers to sell their vehicles directly to customers through Experience Centers or Galleries.