Europe’s car market is bottoming out after five years of falling demand, but high unemployment and weak bank lending suggest its recovery will be long and slow, executives at the Frankfurt auto show said.

Automakers have been hammered by Europe’s prolonged economic downturn, with sales falling sharply and profits suffering even more because of overcapacity.

But there are signs of stabilization — even in some of the region’s hardest hit economies such as Italy and Spain, where car sales have plunged some 50 percent since the 2008 financial crisis.

“The European market has bottomed out. It now appears to be stabilizing at a very low level,” Volkswagen sales chief Christian Klingler said at the show yesterday, pointing to evidence from the group’s order books and feedback from dealers.

“A recovery will take some time and depends on the economic and political environment,” he said. “Unemployment is at the highest level in a long time and banks don’t always offer loans that are favorable to industry.”

Ford of Europe CEO Stephen Odell cautioned against excessive optimism.”Our view is that over the next five years we will see a modest recovery, about 20 percent of the industry from the base,” he said in an interview with Reuters Digital Video.

Car sales in western Europe appeared to be steadying at about 13 million to 13.5 million units this year, but that was still down about 5 million from their 2007 peak and there was no prospect of returning to those highs anytime soon, he said.

Audi CEO Rupert Stadler said it could take another one or two years before the European car market recovery picked up speed.

PSA/Peugeot-Citroen CEO Philippe Varin said orders had stabilized so far this month and predicted Europe would return to “slightly positive growth” in 2014.

Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn said Europe should “see the end of the tunnel next year.” Vehicle sales in the region should be flat to 1 percent higher, ending five years of declines, he told Les Echos newspaper on Monday.

While all carmakers have suffered, the pain has not been evenly spread: German manufacturers Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler have benefited from their strength in faster growing North American and Asian markets, as well as more robust demand for premium models.

That has allowed them to invest more heavily than rivals with greater exposure to southern Europe, such as PSA, Renault and Fiat.