The Sofia Sports Car

Sofia is the name of two versions of a two-seat car produced in Bulgaria in the 1980s and 1990s by the designer Velizar Andreev. They are regarded as the first Bulgarian sports car. Only a small number were produced.

The initial prototype, called Model A, was presented at the national Youth Technical and Scientific Creativity exhibition in 1981, and its designer, Velizar Andreev, proposed putting it into small-series production.

In fact, Andreev had developed his first car prototype as early as 1962, producing a design and model for his graduation project at the Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (MEI). In the late 1970s, together with students from the Mechanical Engineering Technical School and the Wilhelm Pieck Technical School in Sofia, Andreev began work on a buggy. The prototype, fitted with an engine from a VAZ 2101, attracted admiration when it was presented at the Plovdiv Fair in 1981.

The buggy's design provided the basic concept and shape for the future Model B, produced from 1985 to 2001. Towards the end of the assembly of the Sofia Model B, Velizar Andreev also began producing the Sofia C, an open four-seat buggy using VAZ components. Sixty Sofia C vehicles were produced.