JAPAN

Foreign Car Sales Expected to Fall Below Forecasts: Sales of foreign cars in Japan are likely to fall short of industry forecasts in 1992 due to slower domestic growth and a consumer preference for Japanese luxury cars, industry analysts say. The Japan Automobile Importers Assn. had forecast imported car sales of 220,000 vehicles in 1992, against 197,184 in 1991. But analysts say that forecast, made in December, is too high. “Foreign car sales in 1992 will not reach the JAIA’s projection,” said Noriyuki Matsushima, a car industry analyst at the Nikko Research Center Ltd. A decline in foreign car sales in 1992 would mark the second straight year of decline. An 11.1% decline in 1991 was the first in eight years.