Best Selling Cars Around The Globe: Israel, Mazda's Favorite Country

by Matt Gasnier

Published: August 13th, 2011

best selling cars around the globe israel mazda s favorite country

Over the last month we have gone to Afghanistan, Norway, Haiti and Mongolia… Hope you’re not too jet lagged because today we are flying to Israel. שלום!

If you live there, have been there or simply are not in the mood today, I have your back: there are 155 additional countries to be explored in my blog so click away!

Now those of you who have been following these weekly posts for a while are already familiar with the car landscape of neighboring countries like Egypt and Syria. Well, Israel is another beast altogether, with a set of popular brands unique in the world…

Israel is the only country in the world (I very strongly believe – but am not sure about all those small islands spread all over the Pacific Ocean…) where Mazda is the best-selling brand. And it has been so for at least a decade… The latest figures I have are over the first 10 months of 2010 and in that period the Israeli car market was up 28 percent year-on-year at 176,684 registrations, with Mazda delivering 25,808 sales for a 14.6 percent market share, ahead of Hyundai at 24,974 sales and 14.1 percent share.

The Mazda3 is the most popular car in Israel, and as far as my figures go back (2005) it has been so a very strong domination indeed. Some years it has even held up to 12% of the Israeli market…by far its strongest share anywhere in the world.

Israeli consumers are quite similar to Spanish ones insofar as their preference for compact cars: the #2 spot in 2010 was held by the Toyota Corolla…

…and the Chevrolet Cruze comes in 3rd place.

Models ranking info outside the podium is vague but what I can offer you is rankings by segment.

At that game, Mazda wins 3 out of 4 times. The Mazda2 leads the mini segment…

PosMini1Mazda22Hyundai i203Suzuki Swift4Seat Ibiza5Skoda Fabia

…ahead of the Hyundai i20, the Suzuki Swift,

Seat Ibiza and Skoda Fabia.

The medium segment is dominated, we’ve seen it, by the 3, Corolla and Cruze and they are followed by the Hyundai i30 and Skoda Octavia.

PosCompact & Medium1Mazda32Toyota Corolla3Chevrolet Cruze4Hyundai i305Skoda Octavia

The Mazda6 is the best-selling large car…

PosLarge1Mazda62Ford Mondeo3Subaru Legacy4Honda Accord5Opel Insignia

ahead of the Ford Mondeo, Subaru Legacy, Honda Accord and Opel Insignia.

The only segment not dominated by Mazda is the 4WD/SUV/Crossovers, where the Hyundai Tucson leads the way…

PosSUV/4WD/Crossover1Hyundai Tucson2Toyota RAV43Suzuki Grand Vitara4Nissan Qashqai5Subaru Forester

…ahead of the Toyota RAV4, Suzuki Grand Vitara, Nissan Qashqai and Subaru Forester.

That’s all the official data I have!

See here for more info on the best-selling models in Israel up until 2005.

Now for the much-awaited bit of trivia that will focus the spotlight on your proud smile in those high society dinners. Well. You need to know that the only other country in the world where the Mazda3 is/was the best-seller is Australia, where it held the pole position over the first 6 months of 2011 before being passed by the Holden Commodore in July.

There. No one will know. That you can be certain of it.

And if someone should know, then you smugly answer: “It’s not a Mazda. It’s Ma-zu-da in Japanese!”

Now you’re an expert.

All figures and rankings are sourced from es.autoblog.com

Matt Gasnier, based in Sydney, Australia, runs a blog named Best Selling Cars, dedicated to counting cars all over the world.

#BestSellingCarsAroundTheGlobe #Israel #MattGasnier

Matt Gasnier

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2 of 20 comments

ScottMcG on Aug 13, 2011

I know a tom of people get their cars there as part of their employment deal. The car is leased and the employee gets to drive it. You'll see the company's logo on the back fender, usually. One guy I talked to about this said he also gets a gas card. He had no idea how much gas cost, but would get a bonus if he used less than some amount. Hell of a deal, and probably one reason they can get away with the high taxes and fuel costs. A lot of people are insulated from it.

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Iamwho2k on Aug 13, 2011

@PatrickJ On the contrary, establishing a plant in the US and building a US-specific Mazda 6 demonstrates all kinds of commitment to the market. It's just that no one bought the car, thus the retreat to Japan.

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