Ivailo Zheglov is the man behind the International Sofia Motor Show for light and heavy commercial vehicles, which is to be held in Sofia’s Inter Expo Centre on June 9-18.

Zheglov’s company, Expo Team, is the main partner of the Union of the Importers of Automobiles in Bulgaria (UIAB), which holds the licence for organising the Motor Expos in Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna. The partnership between Expo Team and the UIAB started in 1999 when Expo Team was established, and since then Zheglov has been the main figure in every motor show organised in Bulgaria.

An interesting fact is that, for the first time, this year’s Sofia Motor Show is focusing only on light and heavy commercial vehicles.

“We were actually late in organising such an expo only for light and heavy commercial vehicles,” says Zheglov. According to him, the expos held so far in Bulgaria had been more commercially orientated than entertaining, and this year’s edition of the Sofia Expo aims at changing that. The companies that exhibit are planning to spend more money on the arrangement of their exhibition stands, on advertising, promotions and show programmes, which will attract more customers. Another reason for the specialisation of the Sofia Expo this year is  world experience and practice in organising such events. 

“There are only two expos in the world that exhibit only light vehicles every year – in Geneva and in Detroit. Everywhere else there is a division. The first year you exhibit light vehicles and the next year you exhibit commercial vehicles. This rotation suits the companies well because that way they have more time to plan and invest more money in their performance in the expo,” Zheglov says.

He is happy to say that more than 30 companies will take part in the Sofia Motor Show this year.

“We are covering the whole sector in Bulgaria and I mean not only light and heavy commercial vehicles but buses, and all kinds of construction vehicles.” Since this year’s Motor Show is more professionally orientated, there will be an open doors day for professional drivers, who, by showing their professional certificate, will be able enter the expo for preferential prices and receive presents from the companies.

 “The expo is also an event with educational meaning; we are negotiating with the companies to offer test drives for the customers,” says Zheglov. Customers mean sales and deals. However, Zheglov says that, probably because of the focus on commercial vehicles this year, it would be different in terms of sales.

“Until last year, the trend for the buyers was to wait for the expo and then to buy whatever vehicle they wanted. They relied on the promotions and other benefits the companies offered during the expos, and this is what you will see in the UIAB statistics – that most of the sales of new vehicles in Bulgaria happen in June, at the time of the motor show.”

This year is different because the buying of even one commercial vehicle involves more money than a deal for a light vehicle.

“Commercial vehicles are usually bought by companies and they see it as an investment that needs to be planned in advance so the money can be allocated. That is why the expo this year has more of an educational and entertaining purpose.” In terms of the leasing of  light and heavy commercial vehicles, Zheglov says that, in some cases, the leasing mechanisms are much more flexible than for light vehicles because the customers here are usually big companies with a respected reputation. However, most of the companies use investment credits when buying commercial vehicles and leasing is still a trademark for the private customers.

Getting onto more technical issues, Zheglov says that because of companies’ increased interest  in exhibiting at the motor show, he has been forced to reduce some of the exhibition areas because the hall is too small and there is not enough room for all the participants.

“Some want to book 800 or 1000sq m, but receive only 300sq m.”  There are problems concerning the number of parking spaces as well, Zheglov says. “Many people want to visit the expo, but when they see that there aren’t any free parking spaces,  they just move on. This happens every year, and is one of the worst problems that we have as organisers.”

As the organiser of such an event, Zheglov is well-placed to present his view on the development of the transport sector in Bulgaria. He is sure that Bulgaria is experiencing one of the biggest growths in Europe, of 50 to 60 per cent a year, in terms of imported new vehicles. Zheglov credits this success to the efforts of UIAB. He is certain that the number of imported used vehicles in Bulgaria will decrease with every year because the many new vehicles showrooms, the service centres, the guarantees offered by all importers of new vehicles in Bulgaria, the leasing mechanisms and the state of the Bulgarian economy, reflected in the improved financial status of Bulgarian companies, are allowing Bulgarians to buy new vehicles rather than second-hand ones. However, Zheglov admits that there is still big competition from the people who import second-hand vehicles to Bulgaria.

“There will always be people who would prefer to buy a second-hand, cheaper vehicle than a new one, although they most definitely would have problems with the maintenance,” Zheglov says.

Asked where the state fits into this picture, Zheglov says that what the state could do is subsidise Bulgarian producers of spare parts and other kinds of automobile accessories. The subsidy could be for Bulgarian producers to participate in other expos such as in Belgrade, Bucharest, Athens or Istanbul.

“I can tell you that we have been contacted by three or four Turkish companies who wanted to exhibit in our expo, and their exhibit stands were subsided by the Turkish state. So, the Turkish state helps its own producers take part in different expos. This is what Bulgaria can do as well. Unfortunately, at present, the Bulgarian state has subsidies for wine producers and tour operators, but not for companies from the transport sector,” Zheglov says. Since Bulgaria has never had great a tradition in manufacturing vehicles, Zheglov sees potential in the trade in everything related - tuning services, tyres, accessories and others. “This is far more profitable than making or even assembling vehicles.”

On the topic of spare parts and their market, which often has a doubtful reputation,  Zheglov says: “This is not a problem only in Bulgaria. There was a time when UIAB wanted to stop this and the people who sold these second hand parts to be prevented from using the trademarks on their shops. If you walk on the streets you can see many shops displaying the signs Audi, Mercedes and so on, but they actually have not paid for using the trademarks. Unfortunately, this still goes on because there are no legal sanctions that can prevent these people from doing it.”

Zheglov says that there should be a law for eco standards. “Romania adopted such a law long ago, but there is still no such law here in Bulgaria, especially concerning the implementation of the Euro 4 standard for the eco status of  second hand vehicles that can be imported into the country.”