Israel vehicle licensing institutes have been instructed not to accept Tesla's electric pickup truck Cybertruck model that recently arrived in the country.
The first and only Tesla Cybertruck that arrived in Israel so far is driving on Israeli roads but is unable to be officially registered. This comes following an official announcement by the Transportation Ministry to all licensing institutes in Israel.
The Tesla Cybertruck is one of the most well-known electric vehicles in the world. Tesla's road/off-road vehicle is capable of driving on difficult terrain, overcoming obstacles and carrying heavy cargo. Tesla also claims that the Cybertruck is (to some extent) bulletproof against bullets fired from small firearms.
Tesla Israel doesn’t officially import the model to Israel, but the first vehicle arrived in the country a few days ago via a personal import, creating significant interest in it. According to Israeli regulations, a personally imported vehicle must undergo a formal inspection at a licensing institute after leaving the port.
In the specific case of the Tesla Cybertruck, however, the Transportation Ministry had reservations about allowing the model into Israel due to its bulletproof feature, as the country requires special approval to drive bulletproof vehicles, and the ministry chose not to grant this approval until inspections of the model are complete.
Nevertheless, the Cybertruck left Ashdod Port on Thursday, prompting the ministry to issue a notice to all licensing institutes in Israel, according to the statement sent by the ministry’s Standards Division.
"If the importer approaches you to perform standardization and initial registration on the Tesla Cybertruck, we ask that you don’t accept it until further notice at the request of the Transportation Ministry’s management until we re-examine the issue of its bulletproof protection,” the notice read.