MILAN, ITALY - Sales of new vehicles in Italy fell 18.9% in October to 167,940 units compared with the same month last year, the Italian transport ministry announced Monday.

Sales declines had slowed in September, when sales fell 5.5% after a 26.42% plunge in August.

Sales in the first 10 months of the year were down 11.97% at 1.879 million vehicles compared with the same period of 2007.

At Italian auto giant Fiat sales fell 13.12% in October but its market share edged up to 32.84% from 30.64% a year earlier.

Among foreign groups, Ford was the market leader, with a share of 8.61%. Ford sales declined 9.32% on the year.

At the CSP think tank, analysts said the sales slide in October "was, in some ways, less severe than expected, given that the market had been experiencing serious difficulties since the start of 2008 and that it had suffered the impact of the global finance crisis."

While the CSP found that confidence in the auto sector had fallen sharply, there were nonetheless positive elements on the horizon, such as lower oil prices and interest rates.