Spain said it would extend for the third time a scheme to subsidize purchases of new cars that has helped reverse a fall in deliveries in the country.

Treasury Minister Cristobal Montoro said the government would add another 70 million euros to the scheme after an initial 220 million euros announced in 2012 and earlier this year ran out.

Under the scheme, people who scrap their old car and buy a new one get a rebate of 2,000 euros, half from the government and half from the carmaker.

Sales of new cars grew in Spain grew 29 percent to more than 45,000 cars last month, according to data from Spain’s auto industry group Anfac. The rise has raised hopes that the worst may be over for a western European auto market enduring its weakest year in two decades.

But Anfac cited the impact of government subsidies as well as other factors for last month’s rise, including a statistical effect after a sharp drop in sales in September 2012, when the center-right government raised its main VAT rate by 3 percentage points to 21 percent.