JAPAN

Europeans Want ‘Affirmative Action’ on Cars: A group of European auto makers urged Japan last week to set targets for sharply increasing foreign cars’ share of the Japanese market. The request came three days after President Bush returned home with pledges from Japan to buy $19 billion in auto parts and about 20,000 more cars a year from the United States. The Europeans made their request though the Auto Group of the European Business Community, made up of Japanese subsidiaries of 14 European auto makers. In a statement, the group said Japan should adopt an “affirmative action program” whose goal is foreign vehicles a 10% share of the Japanese market by 1995 and 17.5% by the year 2000. This would not include Japanese vehicles built in factories in the United States or elsewhere abroad, said P. J. Woods, president of Rover Japan and the group’s chairman.