Car makers gearing up yesterday for the Frankfurt auto show said the car industry should rebound from its global crisis next year, in a broadly shared display of guarded optimism.
"We expect every quarter to see progress," the head of luxury car maker Daimler, Dieter Zetsche said, before adding that "markets are starting to show signs of recovery".
He voiced hope the luxury sector would secure a full recovery from the global economic crisis in 2011, saying: "There is a chance that the premium market will reach its 2008 level" that year.
Late on Monday, Volkswagen chairman Martin Winterkorn also expressed cautious optimism as he announced the group had increased its market share last month despite the auto crisis.
"The sector can look to the future with prudent optimism," the VW boss told company staff and guests after VW sold 9.5 per cent more vehicles than in August 2008 and its global market share gained 1.8 percentage points to 11.7 per cent.
Car sales have plunged worldwide amid the global economic slowdown that many economists say has begun to ease.
Government programmes that underpinned auto industries on several continents have helped limit the damage but are now set to wind down, leaving car analysts wondering if the sector will be able to find new ways of increasing sales.
The chairman of Ford Europe, John Fleming, declined to give a sales forecast, however, after presenting new models at the Frankfurt fair.
"We'll see where the industry settles," he said.
It was "very difficult to plan at the moment", he added, while adding that "right now I don't see" a continued deterioration of the market.
Tadashi Arashima, head of Toyota Motors Europe, told media on Monday that his group, the world's biggest car maker, expected its position to improve towards the end of 2010.
"The second part of the year should be much better than the first part in terms of market share," he told reporters.
French car company Renault said meanwhile that it would begin making the first of a series of electric cars next year, and would team up with German power group RWE to develop a network of charging stations for them.
"Renault is coming today with a breakthrough," Renault boss Carlos Ghosn said as he presented the new electric models.
"We will 'drive the change'" towards zero emission vehicles that many in the sector hope will spur sales as consumers become more concerned about their vehicle's impact on the environment."
Mr Ghosn said he has raised his estimate for global sales in 2009 from a previous outlook of 55 million vehicles, saying that now "our best forecast for the year is about 59 million cars."
BMW no longer expects sales to fall by 20 per cent worldwide but within a range of 10 to 15 per cent, its financial director Friedrich Eichiner said.
If European markets go soft as car-scrapping premiums taper off, it is hoped that stronger economies in China, Brazil and India will help take up the slack.
"Outside Europe, things look much better," VW sales director Detlef Wittig said.