Tesla begins supplying cars to Israeli leasing companies

Tesla has begun supplying cars to Israeli company fleets. Sources have informed "Globes" that Intel employees have received an official offer to take a Tesla 3 car on an operate lease basis from Eldan. The leasing includes electric vehicle charging points and various other services at a monthly price for employees similar to those of other hybrid cars in the same price range such as the Hyundai Sonata and the Toyota Rav4.

Since beginning exports to Israel a year ago, Tesla's office in Israel has come under heavy pressure to supply its electric vehicles to the leasing companies which provide fleets to the employees of large Israeli companies. But Tesla had resolutely refused to provide cars to the leasing companies saying it was due to a shortage in available inventory and that in talks with the leasing companies that had been held Tesla was offering unattractive terms such as purchasing large numbers of cars without any discounts.

Sources in Israel's car sector says that a large part of the Tesla cars sold in Israel last year were purchased independently by Israelis in the tech sector as an alternative to a leasing deal from their companies. Tesla does supply cars to operate lease companies in the US and other countries.

To date the availability of all types of electric vehicles from leasing companies in Israel has been relatively small both because of the limited inventory and the fact that the leasing companies simply haven't been making attractive offers.

Intel said, "Intel has long been committed to work for the benefit of a range of environmental targets such as the shift to energy use for renewable and green sources. It is clear to everyone that as a chip giant that when talking about the reduction of the environmental footprint is also contained in an obligation to change matters in the transport sector.

Already today transportation to our manufacturing plant in Kiryat Gat is carried out by electric vehicles, the company's employees drive electric vehicles of various types such as the Ioniq 5, Aiways, Tesla, Geely, and MG, which we offer as part of the company's leasing plans. With certain models, as part of the plan, employees can receives free homer charging points. The feedback that we receive from employees on the decision to include electric vehicles in the vehicle leasing plan has been excellent."

Eldan declined to comment and no comment was received from Tesla.