For the first time in two years, car sales in Europe have risen for two consecutive months. October sales rose 4.7% year-over-year, on top of a 5.4% rise in September. In the first 10 months of 2013, more than 10 million new cars have been registered in Europe, but despite the two consecutive monthly increases, registrations remain 3.1% below the total for the first 10 months of 2012.

New car sales jumped 34% in Spain thanks to a cash-for-clunkers program, the fourth the country has promoted in an effort to create internal demand and help maintain the country’s industrial base. Spain is offering a €1,000 matching subsidy for dealer discounts on trade-ins of seven- to 10-year-old vehicles that cost up to €25,000. Spain’s deputy prime minister said that the three previous promotions helped sell 300,000 new cars.

The six-quarter recession in Europe officially ended in June, and confidence levels among the continent’s consumers picked up. One analyst based in Paris told Bloomberg News that “we can say with certainty … that we reached the bottom” earlier this year in European auto sales. Pent-up demand could easily be the reason for the recent burst, and some analysts are crediting newly released SUV models as helping drive new car sales.

Renault saw a sales increase of 14%, and General Motors Co. (NYSE: GM) posted a sales gain of 6.2%. Sales also rose at Volkswagen, up 5.7% despite a drop of 0.5% in the company’s luxury Audi division.

Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) got a year-over-year sales boost in October of 17%, while U.S. carmaker Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) saw a rise of just 0.2%. Luxury carmakers Daimler and BMW saw sales increases of 7% and 0.3%, respectively.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.