Domestic sales of new cars, trucks and buses, excluding mini-vehicles, were 9.7 percent lower in July than a year before at 287,076 vehicles, falling for the 25th straight month, the Japan Automobile Dealers Association said Wednesday. The government said recently that the earthquake in central Japan on July 16 had cut the country's production of automobiles by an estimated 110,000 vehicles because all Japanese auto makers had halted assembly operations for several working days. The number of cars sold in July was 5.8 percent lower than a year before at 110,675 and the number of trucks sold fell 16.3 percent to 40,794, while the number of buses sold rose 1.5 percent to 1,440. Separately, the Japan Mini-Vehicle Association reported that domestic sales of new mini-vehicles were 11.9 percent lower in July than a year earlier at 151,864, falling for the fourth straight month.