" The European market should be flat or maybe show a slight decline next year, but thanks to the U.S. and the BRIC countries the overall market should continue to grow," Chief Financial Officer Wolfgang Schaefer said on the sidelines of a press conference at the Frankfurt stock exchange.

BRIC is an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India and China, the main growth drivers for the global automotive industry in recent quarters along with North America.

Demand for new vehicles in Western Europe has been shrinking for months amid high unemployment in many countries and tough austerity measures to tackle the region's sovereign-debt crisis.

" We assume that we more or less reached the trough [in Europe]," Chief Executive Elmar Degenhart said.

He dismissed concerns about a sharp slowdown in China. Growth rates in China have become more moderate, but he said market growth of roughly 6% or 7% would still be robust " and no reason to complain" .

Degenhart said the Hannover-based firm wants to grow faster than the overall automotive market in coming years, thanks to its strong footprint in strategically important areas including electronic components and fields with healthy profit margins such as tires.

" We're very happy to be back in the DAX," Mr Degenhart said.

Continental, one of the world's largest suppliers to the auto industry, was demoted to the mid-cap index MDAX after its freefloat fell below the required minimum threshold following a hostile takeover by Schaeffler in 2008. The deal also triggered the departure of Continental's previous management.

German stock market operator Deutsche Boerse AG (DB1.XE) announced the return of Continental late Wednesday. The stock market operator's review focuses on aspects including market capitalization, trading volume and available shares.

The number of available shares in Continental has increased as Schaeffler has reduced its stake. It holds a direct stake in Continental of 49.9% and controls another two stakes of 5.19% each through private banks MM Warburg & Co. KGaA and Metzler Bank.

Continental's much-smaller peer completed the takeover in a deal worth around 12 billion euros ($14.6 billion), but struggled to finance the transaction as its debt ballooned during the financial crisis.

Schaeffler signed the deal just weeks before the collapse of Lehman Brothers sent shockwaves across the global financial system. Continental was also burdened by large debts at the time following the acquisition of Siemens AG's (SIE.XE) VDO unit.

Schaeffler finalized a comprehensive refinancing overhaul with its banks earlier this year and has put its initial plan for a merger with Continental on hold.