TOKYO, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Japan's domestic sales of new vehicles slid for the fourth year in a row to 3,433,829 units in 2007, marking a year on year decrease of 7.6 percent and reaching a new record low since 1972, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Monday.

    The industry body attributed the loss to continued surges of fuel price in the international market and Japan's falling birthrate.

    "The number signifies a fall of more than 2.5 million units, compared with sales in 1990 when Japan's vehicle sales peaked," an official of the association was quoted by Kyodo News as saying.

    In categories, sales of cars with engines of over 600 cc and up to 2000 cc dropped 13.3 percent to 1,654,025 units, while sales of relatively upscale cars of over 2000 cc rose 6.0 percent to 1,299,168 units, the association's newly released report said, adding that sales of passenger cars of over 660 cc in the whole dropped 5.8 percent to 2,953,193 units.

    Truck sales declined 17.6 percent to 465,019 units, while bus sales dropped 11.3 percent to 15,617, according to statistics.

    The industry body predicts that domestic sales in 2008 may post a further drop of 2.1 percent to 1.88 million units.