German car manufacturers have received more bad news this week. According to the Consumers Association, Volkswagen and VW-owned companies, Seat and Audi, have taken a severe beating in the association’s reliability ratings. VW was rated as poor while its subsidiaries dropped from good to average. The Audi TT also received one of the lowest scores for reliability for years in the association's Which? magazine. In another blow for the German car industry, Mercedes-Benz slipped two categories, from best to average. Dominating the top reliability places for both manufacturers and individual car models were the Japanese.