New car sales in Bulgaria slightly up, bucking EU trend
Sales of new cars in Bulgaria from January to August 2012 were 2.1 per cent higher than in the first eight months of 2011, a slight increase outperforming the overall decline in new car sales in the European Union, of 7.1 per cent, in that time.
This is according to figures released on September 18 2012 by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, ACEA, the Brussels-based body that represents the interests of 18 European car, truck and bus manufacturers at EU level.
According to the ACEA, the first eight months of 2012 saw 12 905 new car registrations in Bulgaria. January to August 2011 saw 12 636. However, August 2012 new car sales in Bulgaria added up to 1519, 7.6 per cent less than in August 2011. Across the EU, August 2012 new car sales were 8.9 per cent lower than in August 2011.
Regarding the EU trends, the ACEA said that after declining by 7.8 per cent in July, new passenger car registrations were down by 8.9 per cent in August. Eight months into the year, the downturn reached 7.1 per cent as the EU registered 8 268 642 new cars.
July results were negative across countries, except in the UK where the market expanded by 9.3 per cent, totalling 143 884 new registrations. Elsewhere, the downturn ranged from a five per cent decrease in Germany to -0.7 per cent in France, -17.2 per cent in Spain and -21 per cent in Italy. A total of 935 368 new registrations was recorded in the EU, or 7.8 per cent less than in the same month a year earlier.
In August, EU markets performed diversely. Germany saw its demand contract by 4.7 per cent, while France (-11.4 per cent) and Italy (-20.2 per cent) faced double-digit downturns. The Spanish (+3.4 per cent) expanded and the British remained stable.
From January to August, the UK was the only market to post growth (+3.3 per cent), while Germany slipped by 0.6 per cent and Spain (-8.5 per cent), France (-13.4 per cent) and Italy (-19.9 per cent) recorded negative figures, the ACEA said.
(Illustration: Polina Ivanova/sxc.hu)
