P.M. BRIEFING : Foreign Car Sales in Japan Drop
From Times Wire Services
TOKYO — Sales of foreign motor vehicles in Japan fell by 6% in January, reflecting concerns about the nation’s economy, the Japan Automobile Importers’ Assn. reported today. It said the decline, to 10,662 vehicles, represented the first drop from year-earlier levels in seven years.
Sales of foreign cars, trucks and buses for all of 1990 had risen by nearly 23% from a year earlier to 223,923.
Association spokesman Ken Kano attributed the January decline partly to feelings of uncertainty about the Japanese economy after the outbreak of the Persian Gulf War.
Kano also cited price increases of between 3% and 5% for imported cars late last year and an increase to 9% from 6% in auto loan interest rates last October.
