New passenger car registrations in Bulgaria in March 2023 down 14.5% y/y
There were a total of 2309 new passenger car registrations in Bulgarian in March 2023, a decrease of 14.5 per cent compared with the 2702 recorded in March 2022, the European Automobile Manufacturers’ Association, ACEA, said on April 19.
In January to March 2023, there were 7123 new passenger car registrations in Bulgaria, an increase of 6.9 per cent compared with the 6662 recorded in January to March 2022.
Of the new passenger car registrations in Bulgaria in the first three months of 2023, a total of 5408 were petrol cars, 1063 diesel, 420 battery electric, 186 hybrid electric and 46 plug-in hybrid, ACEA said.
ACEA said that in March 2023, the EU car market recorded a significant 28.8 per cent increase in passenger car registrations, surpassing more than a million units (1 087 939).
All the bloc’s largest markets saw double-digit growth last month, with Spain (66.1 per cent) and Italy (40.7 per cent) in the lead.
In the first quarter of 2023, the EU car market saw a substantial increase in new car registrations, with almost 2.7 million units sold.
This marks a 17.9 per cent increase compared to 2022, following solid results in the first three months, ACEA said.
Among the four major EU markets, Spain (44.5 per cent) saw the highest gains, followed by Italy (26.2 per cent), France (15.2 per cent), and Germany (6.5 per cent).
March saw significant increases in the market share of hybrid cars to 24.3 per cent and battery electric cars to 13.9 per cent. In spite of the shift to more sustainable models, petrol cars still retain the largest market share at 37.5 per cent, the association said.
In March, the EU witnessed a significant increase in new registrations of battery electric vehicles (BEVs), which surged by a massive 58 per cent to reach 151 573 units. This is equivalent to a market share of 13.9 per cent and represents a 2.5 per cent increase from March 2022 (11.4 per cent).
Double- and triple-digit percentage gains were recorded in most EU member states.
Notably, the third-largest market, the Netherlands, saw sales more than double, with a 132.6 per cent increase. As a result, the cumulative number of units registered in the first quarter of 2023 rose by 43.2 per cent to 320 987.
Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) had another strong month in March, with sales increasing by 38.1 per cent to 264 694 units.
This growth was largely due to double-digit increases in the EU’s four key markets, particularly Spain (75.3 per cent) and Italy (47.8 per cent). Consequently, HEVs reached a market share of 24.3 per cent, up by 1.6 per cent from March 2022 (22.7 per cent).
After negative growth in the first two months of 2023, the EU market for plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) posted a modest 4.3 per cent growth in March following improved sales in three of the four largest markets: Spain (80.1 per cent), France (34.5 per cent), and Italy (23.1 per cent). Conversely, the German market retracted by 38.5 per cent.
“Despite increases in some key markets, the overall EU PHEV market share is losing ground to other vehicle segments, declining by 1.6 per cent from 8.8 per cent in March 2022 to 7.2 per cent in 2023,” ACEA said.
In March 2023, new registrations of petrol cars in the EU grew significantly (29.9 per cent), now representing a market share of 37.5 per cent (up 0.4 per cent from March 2022). This growth was mainly concentrated in four key markets: Spain (82 per cent), Italy (45.5 per cent), France (24.4 per cent), and Germany (22.8 per cent).
As a result, nearly a million petrol cars were sold in the first quarter of 2023, representing a 18.6 per cent year-on-year increase.
The EU diesel car market also performed better in March compared with 2022 (11.8 per cent), mainly sustained by three of the bloc’s largest markets: Italy (38.2 per cent), Spain (21.1 per cent), and Germany (7.8 per cent).
However, diesel cars only represent 14.5 per cent of the EU market share, down 1.1 per cent from March 2022, ACEA said.
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