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British car registrations fell by around an annual 3% in March, according to preliminary data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

Sales of diesel vehicles fell by around 20% although demand for petrol cars rose by around 5%, the the trade body said.

March is a key month as it is when the licence plate changes.

The SMMT said uncertainty over diesel and Brexit continued to hit consumer confidence.

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Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives told Reuters that Tesla's delivery numbers were better than feared.

"Overall, the Street was expecting an apocalyptic quarter and Model 3 deliveries were better than feared by many," he said.

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

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The fallout continues from the decision by regional airline Flybe to cancel dozens of flights on Wednesday, with many passengers taking to social media to vent their anger.

The company blamed an industry-wide shortage of pilots for the delays, as well as its own pilots taking holidays.

"Regional airlines are in the most difficult part of the market for profitability, and for retaining pilots," aviation industry expert John Strickland tells Radio 4's Today programme.

"Pilots start their careers there, cut their teeth, and then move on. Pilot attrition tends to be very high."

He adds: "Flybe has gone through challenging times for as long as I can remember, hopefully the new [owner] consortium will deal with the various issues."

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Sales at Mothercare fell 8.8% in the fourth quarter - that's on a like-for-like basis (stripping out changes to store numbers) and is an improvement on the previous two quarters.

Sales in its international operations were also down, by 4.9% on a constant currency basis.

But, the numbers means that its full-year performance remains unchanged and in line with previous guidance.

Mark Newton-Jones, chief executive of Mothercare, said: "The UK store closure programme has been completed ahead of schedule and we now have 80 stores in operation, down from 137 stores a year ago.

Whilst this has been a difficult but necessary process, to right-size the UK, it has meant that we have had to say goodbye to many loyal and longstanding colleagues. Their approach and professionalism have been outstanding right until the last day of operation for which we thank them sincerely".

Today Programme
BBC Radio 4

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The director of the British Chamber of Commerce in Germany, Andreas Meyer-Schwickerath, tells Radio 4's Today programme that his members favour an extension to Brexit, and also ultimately a soft rather than hard exit.

He also says the current uncertainty is making it hard for businesses, particularly SMEs, to plan for the future.

Mr Meyer-Schwickerath says there are 400,000 people directly employed by German firms in the UK, and 250,000 employed by UK firms in Germany.

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The electric carmaker says that in the first quarter, it produced approximately 77,100 total vehicles, that's 62,950 Model 3s and 14,150 of the Model S and X.

Deliveries were 110% more than the same quarter last year, but 31% less than last quarter.

"Due to a massive increase in deliveries in Europe and China, which at times exceeded five times that of prior peak delivery levels, and many challenges encountered for the first time, we had only delivered half of the entire quarter’s numbers by March 21, ten days before end of quarter," the carmaker said.

"This caused a large number of vehicle deliveries to shift to the second quarter. At the end of the first quarter, approximately 10,600 vehicles were in transit to customers globally. Because of the lower than expected delivery volumes and several pricing adjustments, we expect Q1 net income to be negatively impacted. Even so, we ended the quarter with sufficient cash on hand".

BBC Radio 5 Live

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Small businesses are not ready for a no-deal Brexit.

That's according to Mike Cherry, national chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses who was appointed yesterday to the government's Strategic Trade Advisory Group to advise on trade deals.

He told Wake Up To Money: "We're very clear that our members are not able to deal with a no-deal at this short-notice. . We have only one in seven able to prepare. We're already seeing contracts being lost and those who are able to do anything to prepare tying up working capital in stock".

Why hadn't businesses prepared before now? Small businesses don't have the time or working capital to make preparations, he said.

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Former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn has been re-arrested in Tokyo while out on bail pending trial over claims of financial misconduct.

Prosecutors had been building a new case against him involving payments to a dealership in Oman, Japanese media said.

Mr Ghosn described the arrest as "outrageous and arbitrary" in a statement, according to media reports.

The arrest is "part of another attempt by some individuals at Nissan to silence me by misleading the prosecutors," he is quoted as saying.

The auto boss, who denies any wrongdoing, was recently released on bail after 108 days in custody.

BBC Radio 5 Live

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Hollywood actor George Clooney and other celebrities have called for a boycott of the luxury Dorchester Collection of hotels, while.TV host Ellen DeGeneres has also called for people to "rise up", saying "we need to do something now".

This is because the hotels are owned by Brunei Investment Agency, the fund owned by Brunei which is introducing strict new Islamic laws that make anal sex and adultery offences punishable by stoning to death.

Michael Maduell, president of the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, told Wake Up To Money that the fund was very opaque.

"They don't share any of their financials," he said.

He said the fund was probably around $60bn in size - not as large as the funds in Abu Dhabi or Kuwait, for instance - "but they are sizeable".

Asian stocks are mixed in late morning trading in Asia on Thursday

In China, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down 0.3% while the Shanghai Composite was up 0.6%.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 was up 0.3%.

Image source, Reuters

Italian bank UniCredit is preparing a rival multibillion-euro bid to take control of Commerzbank, according to the Financial Times, external.

Commerzbank bank is in merger talks with local rival Deutsche Bank and the FT said that the Italian bank is unlikely to gatecrash those ongoing merger negotiations but is ready to make a move should the discussions fall apart.

“The way for us might be open,” one person close to the Italian bank told the FT.

Former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn has been re-arrested in Tokyo while out on bail pending trial over claims of financial misconduct.

Talks between Theresa May and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to end the Brexit deadlock are set to continue today after MPs voted by a majority of one to force the prime minister to ask for an extension to the Brexit process. The pound was a little higher in Asian trading hours.

The first official insight into the crash of the Boeing 737 Max run by Ethiopian Airlines is expected in a report to be published later.

Do get in touch: bizlivepage@bbc.co.uk