Edmunds.com has issued a report saying incentive spending was up 12.5 percent last month over year-earlier figures as automakers work to get inventory out the door. The auto Web site's monthly True Cost of Incentives (TCI) report said the average auto manufacturer incentive was $2,714 last month, up $301 from January 2008. On the bright side, that's a 5.2 percent decline over the incentive cost average for December.

Domestic automakers' incentive numbers were higher. Combined spending for them averaged $3,438 per vehicle in January 2009 versus $3,709 in December. European automakers averaged $3,297 last month, Korean companies were at $2,963, and Japanese automakers averaged the lowest incentive spending at $1,775 per vehicle sold in January. Not surprisingly, premium sports cars were the most highly incentivized at an average of $5,297 per vehicle sold; subcompacts were the least, at $501.

Out of the estimated $1.9 billion total that the auto industry spent on incentives in January, the U.S. Big Three spent $1.1 billion, or 57.5 percent of the total. By brand, Mini and Scion buyers saw the lowest incentives, with Edmunds.com calling Mini's incentive totaled 'virtually nothing' and saying Scion's averaged $74 per vehicle sold. At the top, Lincoln and BMW incentives were the highest, averaging $5,594 and $4,965, respectively.

An additional trend was the glut of leftover vehicles on lots. Edmunds.com's executive director of industry analysis, Jesse Toprak, noted that 27 percent of vehicles sold in January were 2008 models. In January 2008, previous-model-year products made up only 12 percent of new-vehicle sales.