SANTA MONICA, Calif. -- The average manufacturer automotive incentive in the United States was $2,556 per vehicle sold in March, up $177, or 7 percent, from March 2004, and up $187, or 7.9 percent from February, reported Edmunds.com.

Edmunds.com's monthly True Cost of Incentives report takes into account all the manufacturers' various U.S. incentives programs, including subvented interest rates and lease programs as well as cash rebates to consumers and dealers. Edmunds.com bases its calculations on sales volume, including the mix of vehicle makes and models for each month, as well as on the proportion of vehicles for which each type of incentive was used.

Overall, combined incentives spending for domestic Chrysler, Ford and General Motors nameplates averaged $3,472 per vehicle sold in March, up $311 from February. Chrysler increased incentives spending by $200 to $3,507 per vehicle sold in March, while its market share decreased by 1.3 percent, down to 13.6 percent.

After five consecutive months of lowering incentives, Ford increased incentives spending by $389 to $3,064 per vehicle, while its market share decreased by 0.8 percent to 17.9 percent.

General Motors also spent more money on incentives in March, up by $312 to $3,732 per vehicle sold, while its market share recovered from the record low of February by 2.4 percent to 26.4 percent. In total, domestic manufacturers gained market share in March, increasing from 57.6 percent to 57.9 percent.

In March, Korean automakers increased incentives spending by $120 to an average of $1,737 per vehicle sold, achieving a total of 4.2 percent market share. European automakers decreased incentives spending by $23 to average $1,967 per vehicle sold and lost 0.3 percent market share, achieving a total of 5.7 percent. This was the lowest market share for the European manufacturers since October 2001. Japanese automakers increased incentives spending by $62 to average $1,110 per vehicle — a record high — and gained 0.2 percent market share for a total of 32.1 percent.

Comparing all brands in March, Mini spent virtually nothing on incentives, while Scion spent only $109 and Porsche spent $177 per vehicle sold. At the other end of the spectrum, Lincoln was the biggest spender at $5,901 in March, followed by Cadillac at $4,831 and Jaguar at $4,529 per vehicle sold. Looking at incentives expenditures as a percentage of MSRP for each brand, Pontiac spent the most, 16.5 percent, while Mini and Porsche spent the least, 0 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively. Among vehicle segments, large SUVs offered the highest average incentives, $4,290 per vehicle sold, while sports cars had the lowest average incentives per vehicle at $874.