Car Registrations Down 2.7 per cent?

Western European car registrations for February could be down by as much as 2.7 per cent, according to a Deutsche Bank report. Preliminary figures from Polk Marketing Systems suggest a decline of 3.7 per cent year-on-year (-1.3 per cent year-to-date). The report singles out Renault (-12 per cent) and Fiat (-13 per cent) as having particularly bad months, while VW brand (-8 per cent) stayed inline with the average and Mercedes (-15 per cent) failed to improve from a weak January. On a brighter note, the analysts point new model releases for the from BMW brand (+36 per cent) and Porsche (+15 per cent) as examples of European names that are doing well.