European new car registrations reached 1.07 million in December, up 16 per cent from the same month in 2008, dpa quoted the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA) as saying. However, for the full year, new car registrations fell 1.6 per cent to 14.5 million vehicles, the Brussels-based ACEA said. Releasing the figures, the ACEA said car registrations rose in the second half of the year largely due to the so-called cash for clunkers schemes introduced by governments. These were aimed at encouraging auto owners to update to models with better environmental features. In Western Europe, car registrations rose 19 per cent in December to about 1 million cars and by 0.5 per cent during all of 2009 to 13.6 million cars.
