The organisation points to a drop of 0.9% in new car sales in January 2011 compared to the same month in 2010.

Despite signs of a recovery in the industry in many markets, particularly in Central & Eastern Europe, the continuing financial problems in markets such as Greece and the ending of many scrappage schemes in early 2010 means the total European new car market remains at a level below that of a year ago.

JATO's analysis during January also identified that sales in Denmark, Great Britain, Greece, Italy and Spain are all showing negative growth while sales in Central and Eastern Europe have performed well. The firm added that negative growth in Italy, Spain and Great Britain is due to the success of scrappage schemes in early 2010.

Commenting on the findings, Gareth Hession, vice president, research, said: 'Despite entering 2011 with widespread economic uncertainty still prevailing, France has posted its best January figures since 2002 and Germany has bounced back to pre-scrappage levels.'

Looking at the sales figures, Volkswagen remains the top brand, with sales up 5.0% YtD, followed by Renault, Ford, Peugeot, Opel/Vauxhall, Citroen, Fiat, Toyota, BMW and Audi.

And the Golf retains the top model position, backed up by Polo in second place and followed by the Ford Fiesta, Renault Clio, Opel/Vauxhall Corsa and then Astra, Peugeot 207, Fiat Punto, Ford Focus and Renault Megane.