As the Frankfurt Motor Show prepares to open its doors, data released Tuesday showed European car sales rising for a third consecutive month in August. The industry could do with the good news. Many have openly questioned the sector's ability to weather the global economic downturn.

FRANCE 24’s Melissa Bell is in Germany's financial hub to report on the show, which will stretch through to September 27. “At Christmas last year there were rumours that this auto show, which is the biggest in the world, might be cancelled," she says. "The fact that the show is actually taking place is a sign that things have got a little better.”

Despite this, the number of exhibitors at this year’s show, which runs every two years in alternation with Paris, is down 30 percent to 781, with several significant Asian brands proving a no-show.

On a more positive note, Bell reports that “there is a 14 percent rise in world premiers compared with two years ago. The industry is really banking on new cars, and particularly green cars, to find a way out of the pickle it is in.”

Talking about the prospects of the sector as a whole, an automotive analyst at Nomura sounded upbeat: “we have seen the worst of it, it is a question now of the speed of the recovery.”

"The green technologies that are quite rightly being pushed at the conference are something that we are looking to for the long-term," the analyst said in a telephone interview with FRANCE 24, though adding that “in the short-term, we are looking for volume recovery, cost-cutting, asset disposals and alliance build-ups for our investors.”

Brand leaders leading the way

Peugeot, Hyundai, Mini, Renault, Smart and Volkswagen are among the brands set to display all-electric cars this year. Fuel-cell and hybrid vehicles from Mercedes and Toyota are also being prepped for opening day. Renault will feature four new electric models, to Peugeot's one.

Despite the positive slant being played about the new green autos, “they remain a big risk,” warns FRANCE 24’s Bell. She says that the infrastructure necessary to maintain, power, recycle and build the new vehicles is still not in place. So while the new technology may provide an answer of some sorts for the industry, it also raises a whole new set of questions. The concerns surrounding lithium batteries, recharging stations (they need to be established before the cars can really be set up on a mass producing scale) and how truly autonomous these vehicles can be are the nagging doubts that lurk behind the bullish talk of the carmakers in Frankfurt. These are the issues that carmakers will be looking to address over the next week, and beyond.

Bell says carmakers may struggle to reach a share of the fledgling market for green cars that will make their investments worthwhile. “Renault Nissan is banking on a 10 percent market share by 2020, but some analysts say that we will be lucky if it reaches 5 percent," she explains. "It is a risky bet for Renault.”

Looking at the industry more broadly, the sector is questioning its short-term future after the “cash-for-clunkers” scheme ends. This scheme cushioned the blow for much of the industry from the credit crisis and distorted the market, meaning the real health of the industry is anyone's guess.