The economic recovery has reached the auto industry, and some domestic automakers are leading the way.  Americans aren’t buying cars in pre-recession numbers -- far from it -- but October sales figures released late yesterday showed the industry is moving out of the red.  Last month marked the first time since October of 2007 that the industry saw a sales increase without the help of the government’s Cash for Clunkers incentive program.

The Los Angeles Times reports, "Sales rebounded smartly from the sharp drop suffered in September after Cash for Clunkers ended. Calculated on an annualized basis, October sales ran at a 10.46-million-unit clip. That's below historic levels, but it's a vast improvement over September's 9.22-million annualized rate."

Industry analysts typically compare each month’s sales total to the equivalent total from the previous year to track sales, since normal seasonal fluctuations can make comparing sales to the prior month misleading. Fourteen of the thirty-five largest auto brands sold more cars last month than they did in October of 2008.

In an upset, American automakers saw some of the biggest gains. The Wall Street Journal reports, "General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. led the way, posting increases," while "sales were flat at Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co." GM’s sales rose 4.7 percent, "its first year-over-year gains since January 2008." Even that figure may be misleading -- sales at the four brands the company plans to keep next year increased 7.6 percent, which was "offset by a 41% decline in sales of the four brands it is selling or shutting down -- Hummer, Saab, Pontiac and Saturn."

Ford, meanwhile, saw its sales rise 3.3 percent. But, the Journal reports, "Ford estimated its total market share in October was more than 15%. That would be at least 2.5 percentage points higher than where it stood a year ago."

Not all of America’s automakers have something to celebrate, however. MarketWatch reports, "Chrysler remains the odd one out. Its sales fell an alarming 30 percent last month, by far the biggest decline of any major car company active in the U.S. market."

Though Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy in the spring, analysts have begun to question whether the company can survive much longer. MarketWatch writes, "Chrysler has been damaged on so many fronts it's getting hard to see how it can be salvaged." Italian automaker Fiat took control of the troubled company, but "Some analysts suspect Fiat won't be expanding its stake in Chrysler, arguing the company's problems are too big to solve."

Fiat plans a press conference today to outline its plans for the troubled company.

Some foreign automakers posted tremendous gains. The AP notes, "The biggest winner among major automakers was South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co., which saw sales skyrocket 49 percent to 31,005 vehicles, boosted by the Elantra small sedan."

Forbes adds, "Subaru of America Inc. said Tuesday its October auto sales rose 41 percent, helped by strong sales in its Outback and Forester models."

Industry insiders don’t want to read too much into the results. The L.A. Times reports, "Auto executives…cautioned that high unemployment and the dampening effect it is having on consumer confidence would continue to weigh on auto sales through the end of the year and into 2010."

Sales have been helped along by the aggressive incentives many automakers have been offering this year, as they attempted to clear an oversupply of many vehicles. Analysts say that backlog of unsold 2009 cars, however, is rapidly shrinking. Jesse Toprak, chief analyst for TrueCar.com, told the AP that "he expects GM and other automakers to start pricing cars closer to what they'll sell for instead of relying so heavily on incentives" in the coming months.

If you're in the market for a new car, check out the U.S. News rankings of this year's best cars as well as this month's best car deals.