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There are places you would expect to locate equipment from automakers: southeastern Michigan, northern Italy, or near the Nurburgring in Germany. Israel probably does not seem to be a very likely candidate to join this group, however, a really large and developing number of automakers is coming to the country, the latter being Volvo’s parent company, Geely.
A few years after volvo’s acquisition in 2010, Geely created China Euro Vehicle Technology AB (CEVT) in the Swedish manufacturer’s hometown of Gothenburg. His project is to locate and expand new technologies for the group, which (in addition to being among the largest Chinese car manufacturers) includes Volvo, Polestar, Lynk-Co, Lotus, Malaysian automaker Proton and the London Electric Vehicle Company. It also has a 9.7% stake in Daimler, with which it stores the Smart brand. Today, CEVT has opened a satellite workplace in Israel, and its sister companies will benefit.
Despite the absence of a truly extensive history of automobile manufacturing, Israel has a powerhouse in the box of intelligent mobility technology. Companies such as Mobileye (acquired through Intel for $15.3 billion), Waze (via Google for $966 million) and Argus (via Continental AG for $430 million) have demonstrated the country’s leadership in spaces such as autonomous vehicles, navigation and cybersecurity, respectively. And car manufacturers like Volvo and Geely need to take advantage of the burgeoning ecosystem.
CEVT has been running local startups since 2018, when it first participated in the annual EcoMotion Expo in Israel. He has now opened his innovation center in Israel near Tel Aviv’s most sensible Azrieli Sarona tower, the country’s tallest construction, and has hired former EcoMotion director Lior Zeno to lead the operation.
“Israel has a world-leading open innovation environment driven through a hobthrough for artificial intelligence and cybersecurity,” Car and Driver didier Schreiber, head of innovation at CEVT, told Car and Driver didier Schreiber. “We believe that combining the power of a giant company like CEVT with the business functions presented through Israeli companies is the most productive way to locate tomorrow’s mobility solutions.”
“Innovation behind closed doors rarely leads to something revolutionary, that’s what we’re aiming for. So far, our presence in Israel has been fruitful, leading to various proofs of concepts.
Unlike some of its competitors, CEVT says it does not seek to win or invest in new companies, but to foster mutually favourable relationships between innovators and the Geely Group. Zeno told C/D that lately his workplace had six projects of this kind underway, four lower attention and three more to stick to in the coming months.
Recently, CEVT sent a Lynk-Co 01 crossover to Israel to serve as a control bank to compare new technologies. The vehicle is the same as those deployed in Sweden and some other facility in northern Finland, allowing developers to verify their inventions in all 3 environments without having to board a flight, especially useful under THE restrictions of COVID-19.
“We’re going to explore what happens if we open ourselves to a culture of co-creation and mix two dynamic high-tech ecosystems,” said Mikael Rannholm, CEVT’s strategic collaboration manager. “This is just the beginning of something very exciting.”
The Chinese-Swedish company is not the first car manufacturer to settle in Silicon Wadi (or “valley” in Arabic). General Motors began working with Israeli start-ups in 1995. Today, GM’s complex technical center in Herzliya employs about 400 software developers, electrical engineers and knowledge scientists, and serves as the sole outpost of GM Ventures (the automaker’s investment arm).
German brands have also been active on the ground. Volkswagen has several operations in the country, adding individual controls through its Seat, Skoda and Porsche divisions, as well as an organizational center. Mercedes-Benz has 25 workers working at its Tel Aviv center of study and progression. And BMW recently opened its own with the same construction as the CEVT.
In recent years alone, Ford, the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance and Geely’s rival, Shanghai-based SAIC, have opened generation offices in the Middle East enclave. Honda and Hyundai have also established local ramifications of their silicon Valley commissioning acceleration systems.
However, all major automakers got on this train. Despite the ties of the extended Agnelli/Elkann family that control the country, Fiat Chrysler has no corporate presence in Israel consistent with it. Neither is his French wife PSA. Meanwhile, Toyota AI Ventures has focused its generation investment activities throughout the EMEA region at IsraelArray… until his only worker on the floor is gone, with his replacement still waiting.
However, given the central role of the Israeli generation in the global automotive industry, it would not be unexpected to see even those small gaps that will soon be filled.
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