In mid-June Sofia hosted the 12th Annual Auto-saloon in Bulgaria - MOTORSHOW SOFIA' 2002. This event has been held on a regular basis since the democratic changes in the country. For the second time it was located in the newly built International Exhibition Center in Sofia. 115 companies displayed various automobile makes and auto-accessories on a spot of 11,022 m2. In the last 12 years, the Bulgarian automobiles and accessories dealers, organized in Bulgarian Union of Automobile Importers, had realized several minor editions of the saloon throughout in the country's sea capital - Varna. According to competent sources, the Auto-saloon in Sofia has become the biggest event of its kind on the Balkan Peninsula.

60 new automobiles have been displayed for the first time in Bulgaria in this year's edition of the saloon. Many of them have been shown at the exhibition in Geneva last March, and some have not even appeared on the market, so far.

The French Citroen exhibited their super modern C3, which, with its new vision of a small car and great number of extras, is predicted to be the future favorite not only of France and EU, but of Bulgaria as well. Such makes as Xsara Picasso Exclusive HD and Jumper were also present at the exhibition.

The Italian Concern Fiat Uno relied on their stylish Stilo and its sportive version Abarth. Designed especially for small and middle businessmen is the new Ducato. The well known in Bulgaria Punto arrived in its sportive version. The passengers bus Dobblo Malibu, resembling a luxury jeep, also drew the attention of the visitors.

Mercedes, as usual, occupied the largest area at the exhibition. This time the German giant relied on the new E-class CLK, SL, Vaneo and the heavy truck Aksor. The stand also hosted the new version of Cherokee Jeep.

The biggest challenge of Opel was the new Vectra. The German company also displayed the light and heavy trucks of Combo, Combo Tour and Vivaro.

BMV, who last year at the Christmas Automobile Saloon produced a real furor with their new 7th series, have now put the accent on the long version of the "extraterrestrial" limousine 754LiSedan, which sold the very first day of the exhibition against BGN 344,000*. The Bavarians also brought their X5 jeep.

The Czech Scoda impressed the visitors with their Superb Limousine (BGN 60,000). The Scoda make was presented in two engine options: 1.8 TMPi20V and V62.5TDi24V, the cheapest one worth of BGN 36,000. The Korean Hyundai exhibited the new Sonata, the Matrix mini-van , the two-seat Coupe and the Terakan Ranger.

The Russian Lada appeared with its two-seat trailer pick-up, while only three months after the Geneva saloon, Susuki launched the new variant of Liana and Grand Vitara Jeep (VL800 engine).

Ford, occupying an in-door and an out-door stands, displayed the new Fiesta and the unique 4.25-tonne Jumbo Transit, while Volvo chose to exhibit for the first time in Bulgaria, the V70 XC-Cross-country hybrid, an automobile which might prove suitable for the varied relief of the Balkan peninsula. The attraction of the internal Ford stand is the new Ford Fiesta, the prepremiere of which was especially prepared for Motorshow Sofia 2002. Nissan relied on their exceptional Premiere limousine, produced in two variants: sedan and van, as well as on Terrano and Almera sedan.

Renault offered the second Laguna, with card-ignition, the cheap Clio Symbol (BGN 12,990) and the light truck Kango in its 4 x 4 version. The best selling make in Bulgaria, Peugeot, introduced their new 087. The van is to be shown for the first time in Paris, next week. The biggest hit was the van-versions of 307 and 206.

The Japanese Mazda has returned triumphantly on the Bulgarian market and they are expected to "kill" the competitors in the luxury segment with their Mazda6. Its price for Bulgaria is expected to be round EUR 17,000. Toyota was present with their worldwide best selling medium class Corolla. Volkswagen displayed their fourth generation Polo (BGN 16,550).

27 automobile importing companies took part in the Auto-saloon'2002, representing the following producers: AUDI, ALFA ROMEO, BMV, CHRYSLER, CITROEN, DACIA, DAEWOO, AVIA, FIAT, FORD, HYUNDAI, HONDA, IVECO, ISUZU, JAGUAR, JEEP, LADA, LAND ROVER, MRCEDES-BENTZ, MITZUBISHI, MAZDA, MAN, NISSAN, OPEL, PEUGEOT, RENAULT, SAAB, SEAT, SCODA, SUBARU, SUZUKI, TOYOTA, VOLKSWAGEN and VOLVO. 22 of the importing companies are BUAI members.

They displayed the latest achievements of the world's automobile construction industry. The market situation in Bulgaria however, according to Mr. Hadjinikolov, BUAI Chairman, is far from being satisfactory. In spite of the 5,292 new automobiles sold in the period January-May 2002, and an increase of 2,7 % compared to the same period of 2001, Bulgaria is still lagging behind the results of 1994, occupying the last place in Central and Eastern Europe in number of sales per head of population.

A new segment appeared in the mid 1990s: the sub-one tonne segment of the medium commercial vehicle (MCV), with slightly larger payload capacity and significantly larger cube than traditional Car Derived Vans (CDVs). This new emerged segment has experienced rapid growth and now represents 10 % of total MCV sales. It is worth mentioning, that the biggest growth (35 %) of automobile sales has been marked in the small and medium cargo-passengers class which are means of production for the companies in the small and medium business and for which there are possibilities for using tax credits.

At the opening ceremony of MOTORSHOW'2002, the BUAI Chairman extended an appeal that the state should create as soon as possible a favorable normative base that would allow the automobile import companies to offer more relaxing conditions to their clients. The Bulgarian car park is extremely old (average age - above 20 years!) and in its major part not suitable to enter the European Union.

^* - For all quoted prices VAT included.