General Motors Corp.'s (GM) troubled European division Thursday posted a 13% fall on the year to 117,921 new-car registrations in April, despite the scrapping incentive scheme on the German home turf of its core Opel brand, which triggered a 19% year-on-year rise on Europe's largest auto market.

New-car registrations in Europe were down 12% on the year in April at a total of 1.25 million vehicles, marking the twelfth consecutive month of declining demand, the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, or ACEA, said Thursday, even though successful scrapping schemes in several major markets cushioned the fall.

Across the region, April counted on average one less working day compared with the same period a year ago.

"Four months into 2009, the market decrease amounts to 15.9%," ACEA said in a statement.

Italian automaker Fiat Spa (F.MI), whose Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne is currently pushing to forge an alliance comprising Fiat's auto unit, GM's European and Latin American operations and Chrysler LLC, was the biggest beneficiary last month from scrapping incentives and a broader trend towards smaller cars.

Fiat's European new-car registrations were up 4.7% on the year in April at 121,671 vehicles when almost all other major automakers faced shrinking demand.

Volkswagen AG (VOW.XE), Europe's largest automaker by sales, saw registrations fall 4.2% on the year in April to 284,607 cars, with its core VW brand achieving an almost flat result year-on-year with an 0.2% decrease to 153,804 cars.

Ford Motor Co.'s (F) European division fared better than the overall market last month with a 6.3% decline year-on-year to 125,033 new car registrations.

French automakers Renault (RNO.FR) and PSA Peugeot-Citroen performed roughly in line with the overall market development as new-car registrations were down 14% to 110,148 cars and 15% to 156,726 cars, respectively.

Demand for luxury cars remained depressed in April. BMW AG (BMW.XE), the world's best-selling premium automaker, saw registrations come in at 55,633 vehicles in Europe, down 31% on the year. German peer Daimler AG (DAI) faced a 26% sales drop to 60,214 new-car registrations as consumer shied away from big-ticket purchases due to weak consumer confidence amid recession.

Web site: www.acea.be

(Allison Connolly contributed to this report.)

-By Christoph Rauwald, Dow Jones Newswires; +49 69 29 725 512; christoph.rauwald@dowjones.com