November 17 (SeeNews) - New passenger car registrations in Bulgaria rose by 16.9% year-on-year to 24,359 in the January-October period of 2022, against the background of a weak pan-European market reflecting a downturn in the first half of the year, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) said on Thursday.
In October alone, the number of newly-registered passenger cars in Bulgaria jumped by an annual 32.3% to 2,384, ACEA said in a press statement.
New passenger car registrations across the EU, excluding Malta, declined 8.1% year-on-year to 7.5 million units between January and October.
"Recent improvements were not enough to offset losses cumulated from January to July this year," ACEA noted.
In the month of October, new passenger car registrations in the EU minus Malta continued their upward trend, rising 12.2% on the
the year to reach 745,855 units.
The EU12, which encompasses member states that have joined the EU since 2004, also reflected this trend for a recent recovery in new passenger car registrations. Despite having dropped by 5.6% in annual terms to 940,536 in the EU12 countries, new car registrations recorded a rise of 8.8% on the year in October to 89,067.
According to an ACEA report on fuel types of new EU cars, which was published earlier this month, Bulgaria was one of four countries where the growth in battery electric vehicles (BEVs) in the third-quarter was expressed in triple digits, following Cyprus, Latvia and Romania. BEVs in Bulgaria rose 101.7% to 242 in July-September, recording a year-to-date increase of 179% to 678.
In the ten months since January, registrations of new plug-in hybrid vehicles climbed 7.8% on the year to 97 in Bulgaria, while those of hybrid electric vehicles rose 14% to 562. Petrol cars, the most numerous category, recorded an increase in new registrations of 16.3% to 19,442, the ACEA report showed.