As the Government has planned to remove the incentives, the European car-sales growth has managed to slow down, in January.

"The German decline is indicative of imminent EU-wide scrappage overhang", said David Arnold, a London-based Credit Suisse Analyst.

In January, the French consumers continued taking the delivery of cars.

"Demand in western Europe is likely to weaken considerably due to expiration of car-scrapping programs in coming months", the VDA German Automakers Association said, in a statement.

The French Government offered 1,000 Euros per car in its incentive program, last year. As of January 1st, the rebate was cut to 500 Euros. The U. K. officials decided to extend a 2,000-pound per-car grant by one month to the end of March or until the program's 400 million-pound budget runs out.

Volkswagen recorded a 12% increase in its last month's sales, in the region. The Italy-based Fiat SpA posted a 19% gain in sales, helped by the domestic market's 30 % growth. Daimler AG's sales fell by 15% as its Smart city-car division posted a 29% fall.