Sales of new imported vehicles in Japan in September, including Japanese brands, dropped 15.2 pct from a year before to 24,134 units, an industry group said.

Sales of foreign-brand vehicles decreased 10.1 pct to 22,291 units, and those of vehicles made by Japanese manufacturers abroad sank 49.8 pct to 1,843 units, the Japan Automobile Importers Association said.

Passenger car sales fell 19.5 pct to 22,797 units, while truck sales surged 854.3 pct to 1,336 units, the association said.

By brand, Mercedes-Benz took the top market share of 21.60 pct, although its sales declined 13.7 pct to 5,212 units.

BMW, excluding the Mini brand, came in second with a 20.86 pct share. Its sales declined 2.5 pct to 5,034 units. Third-ranked Volkswagen saw its sales fall 15.7 pct to 4,187 units for a share of 17.35 pct.

The association also reported that in the April-September first half of fiscal 2008, sales of new imported vehicles in Japan fell 18.7 pct from the same period last year to 107,441 units.

Six-month sales of foreign brands declined 13.5 pct to 96,120 units, while those of vehicles made by Japanese manufacturers abroad slipped 46.0 pct to 11,321 units.

Sales of new imported vehicles in Japan, including Japanese brands built abroad, tumbled 35.5 percent in August from a year earlier, the biggest fall in more than a decade, an industry group said.

The sales figure, totaling 11,676 units, marked the fourth straight monthly decline, according to the Japan Automobile Importers Association. The drop was blamed on high gasoline prices, grim economic conditions, and a hiatus in the release of new models.

The drop in August is the biggest since February 1998, when sales plunged 39.8 percent. Sales of foreign brands slumped 28.4 percent to 10,316 units.

Sales of Japanese cars assembled abroad in particular posted a decline of 63.1 percent to 1,360 units due mainly to Nissan Motor Co.’s move to shift some manufacturing of its Dualis sport utility vehicle to Japan from Britain.

Although sales of imported Japanese vans and trucks soared to 997 units from 45 vehicles a year before, this was hardly enough to shore up overall sales, the association said.

Even the top three models in sales rankings all suffered double-digit sales drops.

Mercedes-Benz came out on top, up one notch from a month earlier. Sales, at 2,227 units, however, dived 29.5 percent.

Volkswagen moved to second from first place with sales of 2,038 units, down 36.1 percent.