Toyota's importer will stop selling the Corolla and C-HR produced in Turkey, after Union Motors also completed the halt of future imports. Hyundai Colmobil importer also made a similar move yesterday.In the last two shipments, Israel received about 700 cars from the Turkish factory, which will allow nearly all private customer orders to be fulfilled. Several dozens of customers will be able to receive the model and finish level they ordered, but will have to choose a different color. However, in the institutional market, the situation is different: the Corolla is one of the popular cars in leasing companies, and they will not receive additional cars at the moment.
Renault Freesbe's importer is still considering the continuation of importing two models produced in Turkey, Clio and Megane (Grand Coupe), the latter being the last diesel sedan on the market. Renault still has stock of the Megane, and the Clio is also produced in France, creating an additional import option.
Either way, it is already clear that the hope that car importers had to continue importing the Turkish models "creatively" through loading them from Turkey to a nearby port, for example in Greece, and then loading them onto a ship to sail to Israel, will not materialize. Car manufacturers have made it clear that they will act exactly according to the trade restrictions with Israel imposed by Erdogan, and will not allow such bypasses.
From the manufacturers' perspective, it's a blow to the wing: both Toyota and Hyundai models are enjoying high demand in Europe, which should have no trouble absorbing the cars that will now be redirected. There were years when the Israeli market captured about 10% of the production capacity of both factories, but in recent years, their share has decreased as their sales have grown in other countries. Toyota reported at the end of 2023 that towards the introduction of the new C-HR and additional electrified models, it invested €308 million in its factory and €2.5 billion in total.
Neither of them will break the tools against the Turks at the moment. But Toyota already has another factory in Europe, in France, producing the Yaris and Yaris Cross, and Hyundai has a factory in the Czech Republic producing the Tucson and the Kona Electric. New models may be targeted for production, as after Erdogan already imposed one embargo, tomorrow he may do it again against another country on the continent. Volkswagen already canceled the establishment of a factory in the country four years ago, officially due to Turkey's involvement in the Syrian civil war, while Ford and LG canceled the establishment of a large battery factory.
Last year, around 23,000 cars produced in Turkey were sold in the country, almost one in every 9 new cars. This year, about 9,000 have already been delivered, marking a 20% decrease in the import rate even before the halt. Nevertheless, there are still thousands of cars in the market, mainly in the family car segment.
Because even the hybrid Altara, imported from Korea, suffers from limited supply, the halt in Corolla imports is drying up the hybrid family car market. The change is expected to increase demand for the two gasoline models, Skoda Octavia and the old Mazda 3.
Some of the demand will flow to electric cars available from importers, BYD Atto 3, Geely Geometry C, and Chery FX, by fleets that will promote electrification plans, at least for some of the fleets.
The halt in Hyundai i20 imports is expected to divert demand to Mazda 2 and Seat Ibiza, while the halt in i10 imports will divert demand to the Picanto and also to the old Mitsubishi Space Star, which is also imported by Kal-Mobile.
Those who may still benefit from the situation are parallel importers, who purchase cars from dealers in Europe, which are less subject to Turkish restrictions.
In any case, in the iron swords war, Israel records military victories, but the car market reflects the economic losses. Erdogan's embargo will cause shortages and price hikes, just as the Kurdish rebels managed to do before the outbreak of the war.
Half a year later, Eilat port is closed and all cars imported from the East have increased in price by thousands of shekels due to the elongation of the route of the ships carrying them to bypass the Red Sea. Some shipping companies decided to bypass Israeli ports, leading to a shortage of ships to transport cars from the East to the country, disrupting supplies and creating additional pressure on the shipping industry. Now, no one in the automotive sector is joking about how many Yemenis with missiles.