TOKYO (FWN) - Sales of imported vehicles in Japan fell 1.2 pct in October from a year earlier to 18,996 units amid lingering economic concerns and a rise in production at home, the Japan Automobile Importers Association said. Vehicle sales by foreign carmakers eased 0.1 pct to 18,170 units, while vehicles made at Japanese carmakers' overseas factories fell for the 17th straight month, down 20.7 pct to 826 autos, the association said. Domestic automakers previously imported vehicles unavailable in Japan to introduce them to Japanese motorists, association spokesman Yasuhiko Yokota said. "For example, Honda did not have many sports utility vehicles (SUVs) available for the Japanese market, so they used to import SUVs made in the United States and sell them in Japan," he said. "But those imports no longer serve a purpose because they nowmake them here. "Japanese firms also used to import vehicles from overseas factories to offset the nation's massive trade surplus," he said, adding this was no longer the case. Sales of top importer Volkswagen fell 5.5 pct to 4,487 vehicles from the previous year, while sales of Mercedes-Benz fell 16 pct to 3,488 autos. The September terrorist attacks in the US further contributed to the lower figure, cooling consumer spending and putting a halt on sales across the entire auto industry, Yokota said.