Does Volkswagen support Israel?

Volkswagen co-founded CYMOTIVE Technologies, an automotive-cybersecurity company headquartered in Israel, together with former Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin, Tsafrir Kats and Dr. Tamir Bechor. Volkswagen holds 40% of the venture (the Israeli founders 60%), with its main office in the Tel Aviv area and a second office in Wolfsburg; it develops security for connected cars and has remained active as a VW Group cybersecurity partner.

Volkswagen Group opened Konnect, its open-innovation hub in Tel Aviv, to scout Israeli deep-tech startups for the Group's brands in smart mobility and Industry 4.0; in 2019 it expanded into a Volkswagen Group campus and co-working space hosting startups and running proof-of-concept projects.

Volkswagen announced the 'New Mobility in Israel' joint venture with Israel's Mobileye and independent importer Champion Motors to deploy Israel's first autonomous electric ride-hailing service — VW supplying the EVs, Mobileye the self-driving kit and Champion Motors fleet operations. The Israeli government formally accepted the proposal; testing was planned from 2019 with commercialization by 2022, a timeline that was not realized, though VW's robotaxi cooperation with Mobileye continued in later programs.

VW subsidiary ŠKODA AUTO and Israeli importer Champion Motors established the joint venture ŠKODA AUTO DigiLab Israel Ltd in Tel Aviv (operational from January 2018) to scout Israeli startups and run pilots; it has collaborated with more than a dozen Israeli companies including XM Cyber, Chakratec, Anagog and UVeye.

Porsche, a Volkswagen Group brand, invested about $2 million in Israeli sensor startup TriEye's $19 million Series A round. Porsche Digital has operated in Tel Aviv since 2018, and by 2022 Porsche Ventures had made six investments in Israeli companies (including cybersecurity firm Valence Security) while expanding its Tel Aviv team.

Israel's Government Vehicle Administration (part of the Ministry of Finance) ran a tender in which five vehicle importers competed with seven models; its committee selected the Volkswagen Passat TDI — sold in Israel exclusively by importer Champion Motors, Volkswagen Group's exclusive Israeli importer, not a Volkswagen Group subsidiary — as one of three winning models for the official cars of government ministry director-generals and Israel Police commissioners (ניצבים), with purchases starting September 1, 2004 (Haaretz). Vehicles of that generation later surfaced in the Israel Police's own December 2010 public auction of retired service cars, alongside Toyota, Ford, Hyundai and other models, confirming Passat units had actually been in active police/government fleet service (Walla Cars). This was a commercial sale carried out by Champion Motors as the importer bidding into a Ministry of Finance tender — not a direct transaction or donation by Volkswagen AG. Who Profits' 2026 company profile separately states, without citing a source, that 'Volkswagen Passat vehicles are used as Police traffic vehicles for the Israel Police'; that characterization is Who Profits' own and undated, but it is consistent with this documented 2004 tender award and the 2010 evidence that the vehicles were in service.

Volkswagen's software subsidiary CARIAD selected Israeli lidar maker Innoviz Technologies as a direct tier-1 supplier of lidar sensors and software for VW Group vehicles with automated-driving capability — a deal Innoviz valued at about $4 billion over eight years, covering an expected 5–8 million vehicles.