Car importers Ungar and Livnat families to invest in auto tech companies

Six months after investing $3.5 million in GoTo, the operator of the car-sharing service Car2Go and Kia importer, Talcar Group, is expanding its auto-tech business.

Talcar, which is controlled by the Ungar family, has joined Quantum, the Taavura-Livnat group’s ingenuity center. The latter group is the importer of Duff and VDL buses among others. The Hyundai Motor Group, Kia's parent company, the VDL bus manufacturer, and the Tadiran Group are also partners in the ingenuity center. 

Quantum has been operating for about a year and has already examined 80 start-ups in the fields of auto tech, mobility, energy, and industry 4.0. The incubator assists young technology companies in formulating their product, and will also run a test site, which will include test vehicles and options for conducting feasibility tests with the manufacturers. 

Liav Ben Rubi, CEO of Quantum, said, "We plan to set up, with Talcar, a private car test field with direct contact to overseas manufacturers, test vehicles and facilities that will enable the development and testing of new products and technologies, as well as examining the creation of an investment fund that will target the partners’ fields of interest."

In doing so, Talcar joins other car importers that already partner or operate their own incubators and auto-tech innovation centers, such as Volvo and Honda importer Meir, and Champion Motors, the importer of Volkswagen brands, that operates locally with Skoda and Seat