New passenger car registrations in Bulgaria rose 3% in 2019 – ACEA
The number of new passenger car registrations in Bulgaria in 2019 was three per cent higher than in 2018, according to figures released on January 16 by ACEA, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association.
In 2019, there were 35 371 new passenger car registrations in Bulgaria, compared with 34 332 in 2018, ACEA said.
In December 2019, new passenger car registrations in the country added up to 2860, 11.8 per cent higher than in 2018.
In December 2019, EU passenger car demand grew for the fourth month in a row (+21.7 per cent), marking the highest December total on record to date, ACEA said.
This was partially the result of a low base of comparison, as registrations fell by 8.4 per cent in December 2018.
However, specific market changes also contributed to this exceptional growth, the association said.
A surge in car sales was observed in France (+27.7 per cent) and Sweden (+109.3 per cent), as both countries announced significant changes to the bonus‐malus component of CO2‐based taxation for 2020, while the Netherlands (+113.9 per cent) decided to increase taxation of electric company cars from 4 per cent to 8 per cent as from January 2020.
As a result, all EU countries – including the five big markets – posted solid growth rates in December.
Overall in 2019, new‐car registrations increased by 1.2 per cent across the European Union, reaching more than 15.3 million units in total and marking the sixth consecutive year of growth.
The year started on a weak footing due to the lasting impact of the introduction of the WLTP test in September 2018.
Yet, the final quarter of 2019, and December in particular, pushed the full‐year performance of the EU market into positive territory.
Looking at the five major EU markets, Germany (+5.0 per cent) recorded the largest increase last year, followed by France (+1.9 per cent) and Italy (+0.3 per cent). By contrast, both Spain (‐4.8 per cent) and the United Kingdom (‐2.4 per cent) saw demand fall in 2019, ACEA said.
