A record number of new campers registered in Bulgaria in 2024

13/01/2025
Veselin Valev

Sales of new campers in Bulgaria set another record. In the Bulgarian police registers for the past year 2024 data for 110 campers with first registration in the country is found, which represents an increase of about 10% compared to the previous year. But this is not even the exact number of brand new campers, due to unsynchronized registrations at the traffic police and the lack of adequate statistics.

Considering only the official data of the traffic police, the first in sales in Bulgaria is the German premium brand Hymer with 11 new campers. Only one less sale is the budget brand Giottiline - 10 campers. Following them with 9 new campers each are Mobilvetta and Roller Team. Another premium brand among the first is Carthago with 8 sales. Followed by Volkswagen and McLouis with 7, Laika with 6, Eura Mobil with 5. The tenth place is shared between Etrusco and Morelo with 4 new campers each.

When breaking down sales of new campers by group, the home market was clearly won by Trigano with 39 campers from its Mobilvetta, Roller Team, McLouis, Eura Mobil, Forster, XGo, CI, Notin, Rimor and Challenger brands. In second place behind them is the Erwin Hymer Group with 30 campers from the brands Hymer, Laika, Etrusco, Burstner, Dethleffs, Carado and Sunlight. Rapido Group are third with 12 campers, but 10 of them are from their Giottiline brand and with one each from Dreamer and Fleurette. Knaus-Tabbert follows with 9 new campers sold, interestingly the group's premium brand Morelo is first with 4 sales for 2024, while the other two brands from the group's factory in Hungary Knaus and the more budget brand Weinsberg are respectively with 2 and 3 sales each.

Of the independent manufacturers and those developing only one Volkswagen brand, they have 7 registrations during the year of the Grand California model. As we have already informed, last year the German manufacturer announced that it was separating California as an independent brand. This includes their compatriots from the Carthago Group, who develop two brands - Carthago and Malibu, but while the first reported 8 sales in our country last year, the second has none.

You should note that the total number of new campers registered in Bulgaria does not include those from the so-called parallel import, in which the vehicle is first registered in Germany or another country, then it is imported to Bulgaria, and although it is brand new, it already has a second registration for the Bulgarian authorities. Another unknown number of new campers are coming along the conversions. Although second-hand cargo vans are extensively converted into camper vans, there are still some that are bought brand new from the dealers in Bulgaria, after which they enter the conversion service. Accordingly, after the homologation, the camper is registered under the brand of the van. Although new campers arrive with proper paperwork and are registered under the manufacturer of the caravan part, there may also be cases of registration under the manufacturer of the chassis. So 110 is the absolute minimum number of newly registered new campers in Bulgaria for 2024.

Camping.BG

Photo: Veselin Valev - Camping & Caravaning Expo 2024