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GM (NYSE:GM) and Ford (NYSE:GM) Tuesday released positive reports for auto sales in October, while struggling Chrysler said sales had dropped 30 per cent.
General Motors' 4.1-per-cent rise from the year-ago period was its first annual increase in 21 months, signalling hope for US car makers.
Rival Ford - the only major US car maker that has not asked for a government bailout - said its sales rose 3.1 per cent in October. On Monday, Ford surprised analysts with a net income of 997 million dollars - the first operating profit since the first quarter of 2008.
Nissan Motor Co sales were up 5.6 per cent over October 2008, while Hyundai Motor Co reported a 49 per cent jump.
Toyota Motor Corp (NYSE:TM) sales were up less than 1 per cent in October.
The October report improved over September, when industrywide sales slid 23 per cent as the cash-for-clunker federal rebate programme ended.
"The economy is beginning to recover," Dana Johnson, chief economist at Dallas-based Comerica Bank, told Bloomberg news service. "We probably lost some car sales in September because inventory was so low they couldn't make deliveries."