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Tesla looks to bring both its cars and solar to Israel through new subsidiary
Tesla has registered a wholly-owned subsidiary in the Middle Eastern territory of Israel, a move that will allow the company to sell electric cars and mobile energy storage systems in the country that borders the Mediterranean Sea.
Tesla registered “Tesla Motors Israel” around two weeks ago with the country’s Registry of Foreign Companies. The reason for the registered subsidiary appears to be Israel’s strict regulations on vehicle imports in the country. Israel’s governing body of transportation, The Motor Vehicle Division of Misrad Hatachbura, does not allow vehicles to be imported from countries that are not registered in Israel.
Tesla’s attempt to bring its successful fleet of electric cars and alternative energy sources to Israel comes just six months after the Ministry of Energy is planning the construction and installation of at least 2,500 battery-powered vehicle charging stations by mid-2020, according to YNetNews.com.
The company has stated that its operation in Israel will be “importation, distribution, sale, maintenance, and repair of electric vehicles and mobile energy storage systems, energy generation systems and equipment, including solar panels, solar energy systems, and/or other solar energy conversion systems,” on the Registry of Foreign Companies.
While the company has been successful in selling its electric vehicles in countries outside its home in the United States, it will also look to bring sustainable and alternative forms of energy by using its solar roof tiles and home battery storage systems in Israel, a country with a rich history in solar energy that dates back to the 1950s.
In the transportation sector, Tesla will be competing with the likes of BMW, Porsche, and Renault, who have supplied Israeli citizens with electric cars most recently. The most affordable electric vehicle in Israel is currently the Renault ZOE, available for 129,990 Israeli New Shekels, or $37,431 USD. Tesla will likely maintain the ability to challenge the ZOE with its Model 3, the affordable sedan it began delivering to U.S. owners in July 2017. The Model 3 Standard Range starts at about $35,000 but is only available for order in Tesla stores or through a phone call.
Israel is one of twelve countries in the world to propose a complete phase-out of fossil fuels by 2030 according to a report from the Times of Israel. The Energy Ministry says that it plans to completely halt the use of petrol-based products in favor of natural gas or electric power. Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said, “We intend to reach a situation in which Israel’s industry will be based on natural gas, and most importantly, transportation in Israel will be based on natural gas or electricity,” during an energy conference in the most populated Israeli city of Tel Aviv. “From 2030 onwards, the State of Israel will create alternatives and will no longer allow the import of cars that run on gasoline and diesel fuel.” While they will still utilize natural gas, the overall goal is “zero pollutants,” according to Steinitz.
Tesla’s continuance of branching out to new countries and territories is an understanding that the sustainability goal will not come from simply fixing things in its home country of the United States. Musk’s goal of becoming environmentally-sustainable is a worldwide goal, and with the help of a government that seems to take the global climate change as a serious threat, Tesla and Israel can work together to fight emissions.
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Tesla is coming to Estonia and Latvia in latest European expansion: report
Tesla seems to be accelerating its regional expansion following its recent launch in Lithuania.
Recent reports have indicated that Tesla has taken a step toward entering the Baltic states by registering new subsidiaries in Latvia and Estonia.
Filings suggest that Tesla is accelerating its regional expansion following its recent launch in Lithuania, with service centers likely coming before full sales operations.
Official entities in Latvia and Estonia
Tesla has established two new legal entities, Tesla Latvia SIA and Tesla Estonia OÜ, both owned by Tesla International B.V., as noted in an EV Wire report. Corporate records show the Estonian entity was formed on December 16, 2025, while the Latvian subsidiary was registered earlier, on November 7.
Both entities list senior Tesla executives on their boards, including regional and finance leadership responsible for new market expansion across Europe. Importantly, the entities are registered under “repair and maintenance of motor vehicles,” rather than strictly vehicle sales. This suggests that Tesla service centers will likely be launched in both countries.
The move mirrors Tesla’s recent Baltic rollout strategy. When Tesla entered Lithuania, it first established a local entity, followed by a pop-up store within weeks and a permanent service center a few months later. It would then not be surprising if Tesla follows a similar strategy in Estonia and Latvia, and service and retail operations arrive in the first half of 2026.
Tesla’s European push
Tesla saw a drop in sales in Europe in 2025, though the company is currently attempting to push more sales in the region by introducing its most affordable vehicles yet, the Model 3 Standard and the Model Y Standard. Both vehicles effectively lower the price of entry into the Tesla ecosystem, which may make them attractive to consumers.
Tesla is also hard at work in its efforts to get FSD approved for the region. In the fourth quarter of 2025, Tesla rolled out an FSD ride-along program in several European countries, allowing consumers to experience the capabilities of FSD firsthand. In early December, reports emerged indicating that the FSD ride-along program would be extended in several European territories until the end of March 2026.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s X will start using a Tesla-like software update strategy
The initiative seems designed to accelerate updates to the social media platform, while maintaining maximum transparency.
Elon Musk’s social media platform X will adopt a Tesla-esque approach to software updates for its algorithm.
The initiative seems designed to accelerate updates to the social media platform, while maintaining maximum transparency.
X’s updates to its updates
As per Musk in a post on X, the social media company will be making a new algorithm to determine what organic and advertising posts are recommended to users. These updates would then be repeated every four weeks.
“We will make the new 𝕏 algorithm, including all code used to determine what organic and advertising posts are recommended to users, open source in 7 days. This will be repeated every 4 weeks, with comprehensive developer notes, to help you understand what changed,” Musk wrote in his post.
The initiative somewhat mirrors Tesla’s over-the-air update model, where vehicle software is regularly refined and pushed to users with detailed release notes. This should allow users to better understand the details of X’s every update and foster a healthy feedback loop for the social media platform.
xAI and X
X, formerly Twitter, has been acquired by Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence startup, xAI last year. Since then, xAI has seen a rapid rise in valuation. Following the company’s the company’s upsized $20 billion Series E funding round, estimates now suggest that xAI is worth tens about $230 to $235 billion. That’s several times larger than Tesla when Elon Musk received his controversial 2018 CEO Performance Award.
As per xAI, the Series E funding round attracted a diverse group of investors, including Valor Equity Partners, Stepstone Group, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Qatar Investment Authority, MGX, and Baron Capital Group, among others. Strategic partners NVIDIA and Cisco Investments also continued support for building the world’s largest GPU clusters.
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Tesla FSD Supervised wins MotorTrend’s Best Driver Assistance Award
The decision marks a notable reversal for the publication from prior years, with judges citing major real-world improvements that pushed Tesla’s latest FSD software ahead of every competing ADAS system.
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) system has been named the best driver-assistance technology on the market, earning top honors at the 2026 MotorTrend Best Tech Awards.
The decision marks a notable reversal for the publication from prior years, with judges citing major real-world improvements that pushed Tesla’s latest FSD software ahead of every competing ADAS system. And it wasn’t even close.
MotorTrend reverses course
MotorTrend awarded Tesla FSD (Supervised) its 2026 Best Tech Driver Assistance title after extensive testing of the latest v14 software. The publication acknowledged that it had previously criticized earlier versions of FSD for erratic behavior and near-miss incidents, ultimately favoring rivals such as GM’s Super Cruise in earlier evaluations.
According to MotorTrend, the newest iteration of FSD resolved many of those shortcomings. Testers said v14 showed far smoother behavior in complex urban scenarios, including unprotected left turns, traffic circles, emergency vehicles, and dense city streets. While the system still requires constant driver supervision, judges concluded that no other advanced driver-assistance system currently matches its breadth of capability.
Unlike rival systems that rely on combinations of cameras, radar, lidar, and mapped highways, Tesla’s FSD operates using a camera-only approach and is capable of driving on city streets, rural roads, and freeways. MotorTrend stated that pure utility, the ability to handle nearly all road types, ultimately separated FSD from competitors like Ford BlueCruise, GM Super Cruise, and BMW’s Highway Assistant.
High cost and high capability
MotorTrend also addressed FSD’s pricing, which remains significantly higher than rival systems. Tesla currently charges $8,000 for a one-time purchase or $99 per month for a subscription, compared with far lower upfront and subscription costs from other automakers. The publication noted that the premium is justified given FSD’s unmatched scope and continuous software evolution.
Safety remained a central focus of the evaluation. While testers reported collision-free operation over thousands of miles, they noted ongoing concerns around FSD’s configurable driving modes, including options that allow aggressive driving and speeds beyond posted limits. MotorTrend emphasized that, like all Level 2 systems, FSD still depends on a fully attentive human driver at all times.
Despite those caveats, the publication concluded that Tesla’s rapid software progress fundamentally reshaped the competitive landscape. For drivers seeking the most capable hands-on driver-assistance system available today, MotorTrend concluded Tesla FSD (Supervised) now stands alone at the top.
Tesla is coming to Estonia and Latvia in latest European expansion: report
Elon Musk’s X will start using a Tesla-like software update strategy
