Two car importers, opposite sales figures and one brand that made all the difference

The change in consumer preferences in the automotive market can be seen on the roads of Israel. If in previous decades the brands Mazda and Ford enjoyed popularity among the Israeli public and leasing companies, in recent years a turnaround has occurred with the entry of Chinese brands, which quickly conquered the local market. The change in tastes is also reflected in the reports of two of the largest car importers, Carasso Motors and Delek Automotive, which revealed a widening gap between them.

Carasso Motors is capturing almost the entire jackpot as a result of the change in Israeli tastes. The company previously relied on the import of Nissan and Renault, but in recent years has relied more and more on a pair of new brands — the Chinese Chery and Xpeng. The company, under the management of Itzik Weitz, benefited in the quarter from the demand for Chery vehicles, which became one of the best-selling brands in Israel, boosting its market share to about 15.3% compared to 13.8% in the same period last year, and 7.4% five years ago.

On the other side of the road, Delek Automotive, the importer of Mazda and Ford, has been suffering in recent years from a constant erosion of its status. The company, under the management of Gil Agmon, held at the peak of its power, about two decades ago, a market share of about 25%. However, since then there has been a significant decline in the sales of its leading brands, which led it to record in the first half of the year a record low market share of only 3%, compared to about 6.1% in the same period last year.

The chip company that pushed Delek Automotive into a loss

During the first half of 2025, Delek Automotive sold 5,186 new vehicles, a drop of about 42% compared to the same period last year. During the period, the company sold about 1,790 Mazda vehicles, a fall of about 68%. A more modest decline, of 8.5%, was recorded in the sales of the Ford brand (555 new vehicles). In the premium market, Delek Automotive showed stability, selling about 1,930 vehicles of the luxury brand BMW.

The bright spot in the company's reports came from its Chinese brands. While the Dongfeng brand maintained stability (840 deliveries), the luxury electric vehicle brand Nio showed a growth of 83% (75 deliveries) in the first half. But these sales did not cover the weakness in the popular brands, leading Delek Automotive to report a decrease of about 3% in its revenue from vehicle sales (1.7 billion shekels in the half-year).

Delek Automotive (which also operates in the field of waste treatment and cardboard sales through the subsidiary Veridis) ended the first half with revenue of about 3.26 billion shekels, an increase of about 1% compared to the same period last year, while in the second quarter the company showed a growth of about 17% in revenue (about 1.5 billion shekels). This is thanks to the improvement in waste activity, alongside the merger of the leasing company Eurodrive.

However, in the bottom line, Delek Automotive reported a loss of about 12.6 million shekels in the half-year summary, compared to a profit of about 92 million shekels last year. In the quarter, the loss was much larger and stood at about 88 million shekels. Behind the loss is a significant value write-off of about 161 million shekels that the company carried out on its investment in the chip company Hailo, which reached a peak value of more than a billion dollars, but was recently sold for a few tens of millions of dollars.

In the shadow of the continued weakness in its business, Delek Automotive's stock fell by about 40% and it is currently traded at a market value of 1.4 billion shekels.

Sharp drop in Carasso's profit in the quarter

While Delek Automotive suffered from a drop in sales, Carasso sold about 32.5 thousand new vehicles during the first half, an increase of about 36% compared to the same period last year. This was reflected in a 15% growth in revenue in the automotive sector, which stood at about 3.4 billion shekels.

Vehicle sales were led by the Chinese brand Chery, which sold 17.6 thousand vehicles during the first half, a jump of about 62.5% compared to the same period last year, and more than three times all the vehicles that Delek Automotive sold in the same period. This compensated for a decline of about 20% in sales of Carasso's Chinese premium brand, Xpeng (about 3,000 units). Among the veteran brands, about 2,000 Nissan vehicles were sold (a decline of about 45%), while the Renault brand saw a growth of 31% (about 1,650).

In the half-year summary, the group's revenue, which also has activity in the fields of leasing and financing, stood at about 4.7 billion shekels, an increase of about 15% compared to the same period last year. However, in the second quarter, revenue totaled about 2.1 billion shekels, a decrease of about 3% compared to the same quarter last year. The company attributes the decline to damage to the automotive sector's revenue due to the effects of the war with Iran.

In the bottom line, the company recorded a decrease of about 32% in net profit, which stood at the end of the half-year at about 150 million shekels. In the quarter summary, an even larger drop of about 63% was recorded in profit (about 42 million shekels). The decline in profit was due to a value decrease of about 21 million shekels in the company's securities portfolio and a provision for a fine of about 11.5 million shekels, which it will pay to the Competition Authority due to an issue related to the ability of customers to exercise their warranty.

Carasso Motors is traded at a value of 2.7 billion shekels, after it lost about 17.5% of its value since the beginning of the year, following a 120% jump in the last three years.

Drop in Delek Automotive's average profit from selling a car

From an analysis of the reports, it turns out that although the sales of Carasso Motors brands grew, the profit on each car decreased. The average profit per vehicle sold by Carasso Motors stood at 14.6 thousand shekels in the half-year (an erosion of about 7% compared to 15.6 thousand shekels last year), due to the continued increase in the rate of Chinese vehicles, which have lower profitability.

An even higher erosion was recorded in Delek Automotive's activity, which recorded an average profit of 13.6 thousand shekels, compared to 21.4 thousand shekels per car in the same period last year, against the background of the massive decrease in veteran brands, which are considered to have a high profit rate.