Only nine out of the 31 car brands available in Europe are on course to achieve 2012 EU average emissions targets of 130g/km, but it's unlikely that the other 22 will be fined.

Several loopholes mean that the often-quoted target figure actually means very little. Firstly, for this year only the least-polluting 65% of a manufacturer's cars will be taken into account against the 130g/km target. The full range will be included from 2015.

Secondly, manufacturers of `heavy' cars, like Mercedes with an average vehicle weight of 1661kg, have higher targets to meet. Mercedes' target is 143g/km for 65% of its cars sold, not 130g/km.

Thirdly, any manufacturer that sells fewer than 300,000 cars a year in the EU does not have the same targets. Small-scale manufacturers simply need to reduce the average emissions of the cars they sell by 25%.

The nine manufacturers to have already achieved the 2012 target on the strength of their 2011 figures are, in descending order, Fiat, Citroen, Toyota, Seat, Lexus, Mini, Alfa Romeo, Peugeot and Hyundai.

Mini is the only manufacturer of the nine to have actually had its average sales-weighted CO2 emissions increase, up from 128.03g/km to 128.21g/km. Chevrolet also saw a 0.41% increase in 2011.

The biggest improver is Lexus, shaving 24.23% off its emissions to sit just 3g/km behind its parent company Toyota. Chrysler knocked 20.47g/km off its figures but still stands at an average of 182.6g/km, well short of the target.

The overall average CO2 emissions improvement from 2010 to 2011 was 4.22%, down from 144.44g/km to 138.35g/km.