Global auto registration and production slightly declined in December; in 2011, the autos sector expanded moderately  
 
Global auto registrations   

Our series of "global 25" auto registrations declined slightly in December, from 58.1mn to 57.7mn, following an increase of 2.0% m/m in November. The series added 4.0% q/q in Q4, slightly below the 5.3% q/q increase in Q3. All in all, in 2011, "global 25" auto registration rose 4.3% to 55.4mn saar. This was a modest increase compared with the 11.5% rise in 2010, but it was slightly above pre-crisis trend (the series rose 3.9% in 2007), thereby signaling an overall return to normalization. At the global level, we expect normalization to continue and reiterate our view that global business confidence is likely to stabilize in the months to come, as further indicated by our aggregated PMI indicators.



source: BarCap