New report spells out increase in car numbers in Bulgaria

The number of cars per 1000 inhabitants in Bulgaria rose from 436 in 2020 to 484 in 2024, according to a new report by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, ACEA, entitled Vehicles on European Roads.

Over the same period, cars per 1000 inhabitants of the European Union rose from 544 to 570.

All vehicles on Bulgaria’s roads rose from 3 347 644 in 2020 to 3 640 723 in 2024, an increase of 3.6 per cent, the ACEA report said.

In that time, cars on Bulgaria’s roads rose by 3.7 per cent, vans by 1.1 per cent, lorries by 9.6 per cent, while buses decreased by 1.1 per cent.

As to fuel sources of cars in Bulgaria, diesel accounted for the largest share, 48.6 per cent, more than 10 percentage points above the EU figure of 38.4 per cent.

In second place in Bulgaria were petrol cars, 34.6 per cent (EU 49.2 per cent), followed by LPG 12.5 per cent (EU 2.7 per cent), hybrid electric 2.2 per cent (EU five per cent), battery electric 0.6 per cent (2.3 per cent), plug in hybrid 0.2 per cent (1.4 per cent), natural gas 0.1 per cent (0.6 per cent) and “other” 1.2 per cent (EU 0.3 per cent).

Battery-electric cars accounted for 2.3 per cent of the total EU car fleet, while plug-in hybrids made up 1.4 per cent. Only six EU countries had a share of battery-electric cars above four per cent, with Denmark (12.1 per cent) leading. In Norway, over one-fourth of all cars in circulation are already battery electric.

ACEA said that in 2024, the EU passenger car fleet grew by 1.4 per cent compared to 2023, reaching almost 256 million cars on the road.

Nearly all EU countries experienced fleet expansion, with Latvia recording the highest growth (9.2 per cent), the association’s report said.

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