Vehicle sales in Japan fell in 2007 to their lowest level in 35 years as declining wages, high fuel costs and a shrinking population cut demand for automobiles, an industry association said Monday.

Sales of cars, trucks and buses excluding minicars dropped 7.6 percent to 3.43 million from 3.72 million in 2006, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said.

Toyota saw a 6.2 percent decline in domestic sales to 1.58 million — falling below the 1.6 million unit line for the first time in 24 years. Nissan, Honda and Mazda also suffered year-on-year falls in sales.