Tesla officially starts sales in Israel, prices pleasantly surprise us

Tesla has officially started taking orders for its electric vehicles in Israel, and the prices are pleasantly surprising us.

Tesla in Israel

Tesla has been looking into entering the Israeli auto market for a while now.

Last year, we reported that Tesla is working on opening a service center and a Supercharging station in Tel Aviv.

The automaker listed some job openings for sale and service positions in the city.

At the time, it was believed that the automaker was preparing to soon start taking orders for its electric vehicles in the market, but it didn’t happen.

Furthermore, there were local reports last year that claimed Tesla was working to open an R&D office in Israel.

Nothing official has come out of that effort either.

But things starting to move for real last month when Tesla obtained an official license to import its vehicles in the country and indicated that it planned to open a Tesla center and Supercharger stations “early in 2021”.

Tesla officially starts taking orders in Israel

Today, Tesla has opened its online configurator for its vehicles in Israel and started taking orders.

People were especially curious about the price in shekels of the Model 3, Tesla’s least expensive vehicle, due to the import fees and taxes, which are extensive of vehicles in Israel.

Some industry watchers were expecting Model 3 to start at as much as 250,000 to 300,000 shekels, but Tesla came in at a way lower price:

The Model 3 now starts at 169,990 shekel, which includes NIS 26,040 for VA. There is an additional NIS 9,223.25 charge for other taxes, including sales tax and luxury goods tax.

It adds up to around 180,000 shekels, which is equivalent to $54,589.95 USD.

That’s more expensive than anywhere in the US after taxes, but it is still a lot less than anticipated by most people.

Tesla is planning to quickly open a location in Tel Aviv and several Supercharger stations in the country to support the upcoming fleet.