Every country has its national symbols. We have falafel, Waze and the Sussita. In Israel, three car factories operated that mainly assembled American, European, and even one Japanese model, but those of Autocars were the most famous. Perhaps because they were the only truly “ours” vehicles – original Israeli cars seen as a victory of local ingenuity over the “Henry Fords” of the world.

Only in hindsight did we realize that the Sussita, Carmel Ducas, Rom Carmel and Sabra were produced on local assembly lines, but almost all of the factory’s models were designed by the British company Reliant, which also produced part of them itself. Only the Rom Carmel, produced in the later years, was originally an Israeli design, based on the chassis of earlier models, and even then – with imported Chrysler and Ford engines. Not to mention the tax scheme behind the factory founded by Yitzhak Shubinsky and Vladislav Schneller, later taken over by Shubinsky: A large tax discount for locally produced vehicles compared to imports financed the operation, which in any case failed to survive economically.

Nearly 200,000 vehicles were assembled and manufactured in Israel by Autocars, Illin Industries, and Automotive Industries Nazareth Illit – three factories all concentrated in the Haifa Bay and the Galilee. The first cars, Kaiser Manhattan and Kaiser Henry J, rolled off the assembly line in Haifa in 1951; the last ones, the Rom Carmel in Tirat Carmel and the Ford Escort in Nazareth Illit, were produced in 1981. The last Israeli vehicle to survive was the Jeep, in its local “Sufa” version produced until 2001, and the Sufa 4 military version, the last of which was assembled in 2019.

And what remains?

With the help of Yohay Shinar, the historian of Israel’s automotive industry and the operator of israelmotorindustry.org, we examined how many of the vehicles produced here have survived into 2026, 75 years after the first car was assembled (in fact, several British Standard models were assembled here already in the 1930s in the north as well).

The bad news: Few. The good news: The number of some models has even increased, after cars that had been off the road were restored by loving collectors and returned to driving condition. Even now, there are still Israeli-born cars waiting for such hands, and some may yet return to the road.

Sussita and its relatives: 43 fiberglass models from Autocars are still registered, a slight increase from 42 three years ago. Of these, 18 are from the 1960s, 20 from the 1970s, and 5 Rom Carmel units from the final series.

Ford Escort: Perhaps the most successful among the cars assembled in Israel. 14 were still here three years ago, and 14 are still on the road, across two generations.

Studebaker Lark: Once the most common “executive” car for officials here 60 years ago, also used as Israel Police patrol cars, and even assembled here until 1966, shortly after the American manufacturer went bankrupt. We found 8 registered in 2023, a number that increased to 10 in 2026.

Hino Contessa: Our first Japanese car, a popular family vehicle in its time in Israel, whose production here was only stopped after the small manufacturer was acquired by Toyota (which at the time was pressured by the Arab boycott). 2 are still registered, unchanged.

Triumph 1,300/1,500: The semi-luxury British model, for which Mapai officials managing the car market “brilliantly” forced the manufacturer to develop a larger engine version than originally designed for it. It remains in Israel with 2 units, one of each engine size, also unchanged.

Jeep and Sufa: Originally considered more of a utility vehicle, but we of course were among the first to recognize the global trend and the SUV boom. 1,172 Jeep and Sufa models produced here are still registered, of which 46 are “children” of the 1950s and 550 Sufa models from the 1990s. From the final series produced in 2000–2001 until the cancellation of the tax benefit, only 12 units remain, not including Sufa models still in IDF service. Three assembly lines produced Jeeps over the years: In Haifa, Ashkelon, and Nazareth Illit (today Nof HaGalil). Here, however, there was a significant decline over three years, as in 2023 we found 1,478 on the road.

Total: 1,258 Israeli-made vehicles (including two Leyland trucks and two Mack trucks) are still on the roads of the country. Roughly the number of Chinese cars sold here every three days.