Tesla ranked as the second best-selling electric vehicle brand in Israel over the first five months of 2026, holding off a crowded field of Chinese rivals even as it still waits to switch on its Full Self-Driving software for local customers.

The company registered 1,843 EVs between January and May, behind only XPeng on 2,385 and ahead of China’s Changan on 1,738, according to the Vehicle Importers Association.

Transportation Minister Miri Regev quote-tweeted an Elon Musk post promoting the system in March with the words “Coming soon…”, the strongest official hint that the supervised driving trial approved in February was moving toward a consumer rollout.

As of early June, the software remains in the trial phase.

At a technical conference this week, Tesla listed Israel among the markets still awaiting regulatory approval, citing Regev’s pledge as a marker of progress rather than completion.

Tesla built that runner-up total in bursts. The company’s Israel deliveries ran above 1,800 in March and fell to 12 in May, a pattern set by the timing of shipments reaching the market rather than by shifts in demand.

Israel’s Ministry of Transportation approved Tesla to begin a supervised autonomous driving trial on public roads on February 1.

Under the programme, Tesla vehicles can operate using FSD (Supervised) while a human driver remains behind the wheel and ready to intervene.

The approval followed a professional review led by Director General Moshe Ben Zaken, attended by Tesla Israel representative Itay Raved alongside officials from the Vehicle Division and the Tax Authority.

According to Israel Daily News, the approval also followed talks held in May 2025 between Regev and Tesla representatives in Germany, during which the company’s vice president for EMEA, Joe Ward, agreed to visit Israel to explore establishing a smart transportation hub.

“Promoting trials in advanced vehicle technologies is part of the policy I am leading — creating an advanced ecosystem and smart regulation that enable innovation, safety, and growth,” Regev said at the time.

Ben Zaken said the ministry was working to adapt regulations and remove barriers, noting that Israel already serves as a preferred testing ground for global automakers.

In September 2025, he suggested the country could host a Tesla robotaxi pilot, potentially among the first outside the United States.

Tesla‘s 2026 sales in Israel have traced an extreme quarter-end pattern, driven by logistics. The company does not build cars locally and relies on shipments arriving by sea, so registrations cluster in the months vessels dock and thin out in between.

The company delivered no vehicles in January, when electric demand slumped and Chinese brands led the market’s EV deliveries.

In February, Tesla registered 117 vehicles, up from six a year earlier, according to official data.

March brought a surge as Tesla delivered about 1,805 vehicles, returning to the top of Israel’s EV ranking ahead of Deepal, XPeng, and BYD.

The spike lifted electric vehicles’ share of the overall market after months of decline.

With no major delivery in the following months, the figures fell back. 

Tesla sold 29 vehicles in April and 12 in May, declines of 44% and 97% year-on-year. Both monthly comparisons are distorted by the same shipment timing, which leaves volumes near zero whenever a quarter-end batch has yet to arrive.

That second-place finish, on the association’s five-month tally, rested almost entirely on the March surge, with the bulk of the volume landing in the first quarter.

The figures come from separate tabulations. Monthly delivery counts and the association’s five-month registration tally are compiled differently and do not align precisely, though both show the same shape: a March concentration bracketed by near-empty months.

The pattern mirrors Tesla‘s delivery rhythm in other import markets, where shipments from Gigafactory Shanghai are weighted toward the close of each quarter and a single arrival can account for most of a period’s registrations.

Tesla‘s swings have unfolded as Chinese automakers deepen their hold on the market.

In February, Chinese brands claimed 41.4% of Israel’s total sales, their highest share on record, as the overall market rose 10.6% year-on-year to 27,214 units.

Chery’s dual-brand Omoda and Jaecoo operation reached the top of the overall ranking for the first time, while BYD sales jumped more than 76%. XPeng posted a 20% decline, and Nio failed to register any EVs during the month.

Chinese brands accounted for 78.4% of Israel’s EV sales over the first five months, selling 12,718 units.