New passenger car registrations in Bulgaria in January-May 2022 up 17.5% y/y

There were 11 721 new passenger car registrations in Bulgaria in the first five months of 2022, an increase of 17.5 per cent compared with January to May 2021, according to figures released on 16 June by ACEA, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association.

Against the background of car sales having been pushed down in 2020 amid the Covid-19 crisis, new passenger car registrations in Bulgaria in January to May 2021 were 9973, or 26.6 per cent higher than in the first five months of 2020.

In January to April 2019, new passenger car registrations in Bulgaria added up to 15 068, but in January to May 2020 the figure fell by 69 per cent to 7878.

ACEA said that in May 2022, there were 2690 new passenger car registrations in Bulgaria, an increase of 35.2 per cent compared with the May 2021 figure.

This was the largest year-on-year increase recorded in May among the 26 EU member states, data from which is tracked by ACEA (figures on Malta were not available).

The rising number of passenger car registration in Bulgaria in May ran counter to the downward trend in the EU as a whole, where ACEA recorded the tenth consecutive month of year-on-year decline.