JAPAN: Japanese companies are lurching forward in...

JAPAN: Japanese companies are lurching forward in the race to develop “green” cars that emit little or no pollution, inspired by market factors perhaps more than concern for the environment, industry analysts say. “Japanese auto makers are interested in jumping on the green car bandwagon, but this is a calculated commercial decision,” said auto analyst Steve Usher at Kleinwort Benson International Inc. “Basically the Japanese are interested in anticipating the market.” Recent and pending legislation in the United States to make cars less polluting and the air cleaner is the impetus for Japanese auto companies to green up their act. They fear losing market share if they do not. By far the biggest overseas market for Japanese auto makers is the United States, where a Clean Air Act was passed in October, 1990, and a tough bill to increase car fuel efficiency is pending in Congress. Within the United States, the biggest single state market is California, which adopted the toughest clean air rules in the country last September. California last year accounted for about 1 million of the 9 million passenger cars sold in the country. Japan’s companies have already set the global standards for quality control and fuel efficiency.