Stellantis NV (STLA.US) reported on Friday that its third-quarter global vehicle sales increased 13% year-over-year, driven by new model launches and rising demand in North America, signaling a business recovery after several quarters of declining sales.

The French-Italian-American joint venture automaker estimated it delivered 1.3 million vehicles during the July-September period. Final sales and revenue figures for the third quarter will be released on October 30.

The company stated that North American vehicle deliveries surged 35% to 403,000 units, partly due to the launch of the Ram 1500 model equipped with a V8 engine and inventory normalization following production cuts last year. This performance suggests that Stellantis NV, led by new CEO Antonio Filosa since June, may be regaining momentum, particularly in one of its most important markets, after the group had been dealing with challenges including excess inventory and model transitions that pressured sales in previous quarters.

In Europe, deliveries rose 8% year-over-year to 534,000 units, benefiting from the launch of four new compact models—the Citroen C3, Citroen C3 Aircross, Opel Frontera, and Fiat Grande Panda—which were not in production during the same period last year. Stellantis NV added that despite this, some gains were offset by weak demand for light commercial vehicles and declining sales in several major European countries.

In other regions, South American deliveries fell 3% to 252,000 units. Stellantis NV attributed this to a high comparison base from the previous year, when the company recovered delayed deliveries following floods in Rio Grande do Sul.