ROME, Dec 3: The Italian auto market contracted in November, with registrations of new cars down 4.55 per cent on the year, but Japanese models bucked the trend and gained ground, the transport ministry said on Wednesday.

New-car registrations slipped 0.8 per cent in the first 11 months of 2003 to 2.098 million vehicles compared with the same period of 2002. In November compared with November 2002 registrations fell 4.55 per cent to 171,200.

But Toyota of Japan saw registrations advance 5.57 per cent from November 2002, with its market share climbing to 6.11 per cent from 5.52 per cent.

At Nissan registrations surged 70.16 per cent in November from a year earlier, Mazda registrations were up 93.13 per cent while those at Honda gained 0.74 per cent.

Registrations of Italy’s best-selling mark, Fiat, fell 3.96 per cent in November for a market share of 20.54 per cent, just up from 20.42 per cent a year earlier.—AFP