Monthly Review June 2026

Preface – Economic Climate

The Israeli economy sustained its positive rehabilitation through June 2026, characterized by further improvements in fiscal metrics and robust market activity. A key indicator of this ongoing stabilization is the continued narrowing of the deficit-to-GDP ratio, which dropped to 3.3%. Commercial activity demonstrated significant strength, with the monthly trade in goods and services expanding to over $16 billion. This momentum is accompanied by a strong Shekel trading at an average of ₪2.936 per USD and a rising standard of living, reflected in an annual GDP per capita of $65,606. Supported by a resilient labor market maintaining a low unemployment rate of 2.9% and an accommodative monetary environment with decreased short-term interest rates, these indicators collectively reflect a highly favorable foundation for Israel’s sustainable economic growth and investment.

The Israeli economy is advanced and is a member of the OECD. Its current GDP per capita is $65,606, and its growth rate in 2026 Q1 was 3.3%. Israel maintained a 3.3% deficit of GDP from July 2025 to June 2026.

The debt-to-GDP ratio decreased to 68.5% in 2025, and the unemployment rate stood at 2.9% in June 2026. As of June 2026, the annual inflation growth rate stood at 1.6%. In June 2026, the short-term interest rate decreased to 3.75%, while the long-term interest rate stood at 3.5%.

Statistical Profile

Society

Population (May 2026): 10.253 Million

Economy

GDP per capita (June 2026): $ 65,606 

Inflation (June 2026) (April Growth Rate): 1.6% 

Current Account Balance (Q1 2026): -0.04% of GDP

Trade in Goods and Services (June 2026): $16.008 billion

Finance

US Dollar Exchange rate (June 2026, Avg.): NIS 2.936

Euro Exchange rate (June 2026, Avg.): NIS 3.387

Long-term interest rates (June 2026): 3.77% Per Annum

Short-term interest rates (June 2026): 3.5% Per Annum

Government

Debt to GDP ratio (2025): 68.5%

Deficit to GDP (July 2025 - June 2026): 3.3% 

Motorization

Level of Motorization (2024): 421 Vehicles/1,000 Residence

Innovation and Technology

Gross Domestic Spending on R&D (2024): 6.76% of GDP

Environment

CO2 Emissions (2024): 5.61 Tonnes Per Capita

Jobs

Employment Rate (June 2026): 61.9% of the Working-Age Population

Official Unemployment Rate (June 2026): 2.9% of the Labour Force

New Cars and CV Registrations

 New Passenger Car Registration: January-June 2026

Passenger car registration: an increase of 10.8% compared with January-June 2025.

In June 2026, the Israeli passenger car market registered 32,876 new cars – an increase of 93% compared with June 2025. Since the beginning of the year, 176,859 new cars were registered – an increase of 10.8% compared with last year. Since January, 64,334 new cars with electric propulsion (BEV+PHEV) were registered. The market share of pure EVs currently stands at 12.2% with 21,613 deliveries.

New Passenger Cars Registration According to Brands: January-June 2026

New CV above 3.5-ton Registration: January-June 2026

Commercial Vehicles above 3.5 tons registration: 15.5% increase compared with January-June 2025.

In June 2026, the Israeli market for CVs above 3.5 tons and buses registered a 75.6% increase in deliveries, with 1,447 new registrations, compared with 824 units in June 2025. Since the beginning of the year, 8,450 CVs above 3.5 tons and buses have been registered, an increase of 15.5% compared with last year.

New CV above 3.5-ton Registration According to Brands: January-June 2026

New Bus Registration According to Brands: Jan-June 2026

Israel's Auto and Auto-Tech industry

Mobileye to Establish Vertically Integrated Robotaxi Business

Mobileye announced plans to expand its robotaxi activities beyond supplying self-driving technology and into full ownership of an autonomous ride-hailing business. The new initiative, set to launch in a US city in 2027, marks a significant evolution of Mobileye's strategy, combining its industry-leading autonomous driving capabilities with fleet operations, rider services, and mobility management into a single vertically integrated offering. The effort adds to Mobileye’s existing business model as a supplier of autonomous-driving technology to automakers and mobility providers worldwide, creating a new operating business while continuing to support customer deployments. Today, Mobileye Drive serves as a standalone self-driving system that is being integrated into partner programs. Under the new initiative, Mobileye will extend its role across the entire robotaxi value chain by combining Mobileye Drive with its Moovit subsidiary’s Mobility Platform and consumer-facing applications, multimodal trip planning, AV mission control, fleet-management technologies, and integration with teleoperation infrastructure.

The initiative does not alter Mobileye’s commitment to supplying Mobileye Drive to automakers, mobility operators, and other customers. Rather, Mobileye views direct robotaxi operations as a complementary path to market that can accelerate deployment, generate operational learnings, and further demonstrate the capabilities of the Mobileye Drive platform at scale. The company expects its customer-driven and directly operated robotaxi programs to advance in parallel. Mobileye is planning to prepare an initial fleet of about 100 vehicles targeted for deployment in a major metropolitan U.S. market beginning in 2027. The deployment is planned to be phased throughout the year and is intended to validate the operational model under fully driverless conditions. Following successful operation of the initial fleet, Mobileye plans to scale the business substantially, targeting approximately 17,000 vehicles over the following five years.

To complete the end-to-end AV platform, Mobileye will be working with AV-ready vehicle platform manufacturers, fleet operators, vehicle integration partners, and key technology suppliers. The resulting ecosystem will enable Mobileye to own and operate autonomous ride-hailing services under a unified business division.

Drive Group and Innoviz Sign Strategic Collaboration to Advance AI-Powered LiDAR Solutions for Security and Intelligent Transportation

Drive Group, comprising six leading transportation and infrastructure companies in Israel, and the technology company Innoviz Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: INVZ), a leading supplier of high-performance, automotive-grade LiDAR sensor platforms, announced the signing of a strategic collaboration agreement. The agreement is designed to promote the integration of Innoviz's existing LiDAR technology (InnovizSMART) into Drive Group's ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems) and perimeter security solutions, with a specific focus on the joint project "Barak LightGuard."

As part of the immediate commitments of the agreement, Drive Group issued an upfront purchase order (PO) to Innoviz, to purchase InnovizSMART units for integrating them into Drive's Barak LightGuard systems to accelerate global market adoption in the fields of precise drone localization, critical infrastructure, border security, and Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and achieve a sales target of $20 million by the end of 2027. The collaboration aims to combine Innoviz's outstanding LiDAR capabilities with Drive Group's operational expertise in ITS systems and perimeter security solutions. 

The "Barak LightGuard" system was developed by Barak 555, a subsidiary of Drive Group, integrating Innoviz's InnovizSMART product with software from the software company Cogniteam. The system, which integrates a high-resolution 3D LiDAR sensor, a video camera, and AI-based analytics software, enables the detection and classification of objects (humans, vehicles, animals) at distances of up to approximately 1,000 meters, supporting perimeter intrusion detection for the defense and homeland security markets, including critical infrastructure facilities and border security.

Foresight Secures $17.5 Million Strategic Investment from VisionWave at a $34 Million Valuation Post-Investment to Advance AI Perception Capabilities for Defense and Security

 Foresight Autonomous Holdings Ltd. (Nasdaq and TASE: FRSX), an innovator in 3D perception systems, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with VisionWave Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: VWAV), a defence and advanced sensing technology company, for a strategic equity investment of up to $17.5 million, payable in shares of VisionWave’s common stock, reflecting a post investment valuation of approximately $34 million, for Foresight.  The investment is intended to enhance Foresight’s perception technologies with advanced artificial intelligence (“AI”) capabilities, further strengthening its position in the defense and security sector.  Through this collaboration, Foresight’s high-resolution visible light, infra-red, and neuromorphic sensor technologies will be integrated with VisionWave’s AI and radio frequency (“RF”) based perception systems. The combination is expected to create more intelligent, real-time perception solutions for defense and security applications, including counter-unmanned aircraft systems, tactical unmanned systems, border protection, and critical infrastructure monitoring. Beyond the capital investment, the collaboration provides Foresight with a strategic opportunity to accelerate the development, commercialization, and deployment of AI-enhanced perception platforms. Through a phased transaction, VisionWave is expected to acquire a controlling interest in Foresight and will be represented on the Company's Board of Directors, all subject to Foresight’s shareholder approval. Under the terms of the strategic investment, VisionWave will acquire a controlling 52% stake in Foresight through a two-stage transaction. In Stage 1, VisionWave will receive 46% of Foresight’s issued and outstanding ordinary shares in exchange for VisionWave common stock with an aggregate value of approximately $15.5 million. Upon achievement of a defined commercial milestone, the commencement of a binding pilot project utilizing the integrated Perception Platform, VisionWave will receive an additional 6% stake in exchange for additional VisionWave shares valued at approximately $2 million. VisionWave will also have the right to appoint two directors to Foresight’s board of directors upon stage 1 closing and one additional director upon stage 2 closing. Both companies will continue to operate as independent, publicly traded entities. The transaction remains subject to receipt of all required regulatory, stock exchange, and shareholder approvals, and other customary closing conditions.

Nexar and Nauto to Merge, Creating the Independent Infrastructure Platform for Physical AI

Nexar, the real-world intelligence platform for the Physical AI era, and Nauto, the leader in AI-powered safety and vehicle intelligence, today announced they have entered into a definitive agreement to merge. The transaction brings together two leaders in real-world driving intelligence, combining complementary AI models, datasets, technologies, and customer relationships. The result is the leading independent intelligence platform of record for how the physical world actually behaves while ensuring full privacy protection by anonymizing and de-identifying data. Zach Greenberger, Nexar's CEO, will be CEO of the combined company. Stefan Heck, Nauto’s founder and CEO, will chair the combined board. Financial terms were not disclosed. Upon closing, the combined company will establish the industry’s most reliable foundation for Physical AI. Its intelligence engine will be fuelled by more than 300 million real-world miles captured every month across 50+ countries, representing over 10 billion miles of driving history. That scale, independent of any single manufacturer, powers intelligence that no simulation and no single company's dataset can match.

Existing customers will continue working with the teams, products, and support organizations they rely on today. What changes is the foundation underneath them. By bringing Nexar and Nauto together, customers gain access to deeper intelligence, more predictive AI, and a broader understanding of how the physical world behaves.

The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions. When the transaction closes, the combined company will share additional details about its roadmap and vision for helping organizations better understand, predict, and verify what happens in the physical world.

Plaxidity (Formerly Argus Cybersecurity) is Closing its Operations in Israel

The automotive cyber company PlaxidityX, formerly Argus Cybersecurity, is closing its operations in Israel, and 80 employees are at risk of being laid off, reports Calcalist. The company already laid off staff during 2025, and now, the parent company Aumovio has decided to close its operations in Israel completely. Aumovio is a German automotive products company, formerly part of automotive giant Continental, which in 2017 acquired Argus for an amount estimated at about $450 million. As part of the move, all of the company's employees will be laid off immediately, and operations in Israel will be closed. The company stated: "Aumovio focuses on business activities that create value and support future growth. After a comprehensive strategic assessment, Aumovio has made the difficult decision to begin the process of closing PlaxidityX. The decision stems from the rapid changes in the automotive industry and the fact that the general environment has become significantly challenging, with slower-than-expected market growth. "This transformation also impacts the cybersecurity market and is consistent with Aumovio's strategy to focus on businesses with long-term value and growth potential. The process will be managed responsibly, while providing support to affected employees and an orderly transition for customers and partners."