Drop in European Auto Sales Biggest Since...
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
Drop in European Auto Sales Biggest Since WWII: Sales within the European Union fell 15.3% in 1993, prompting auto makers to call for a freeze on Japanese imports. “Japanese manufacturers must share the burden of the present market decline,” said Giorgio Garuzzo, president of the European Automobile Makers Assn. and chairman of Fiat Auto. Japanese car makers accounted for 12.4% of the sales, up from 11.9% last year. In April the Japanese agreed to cut imports in 1993 by 9.4%. An agreement between the European Union and Japan in 1991 called for the lifting of all quotas on Japanese imports by 1999 in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece. Trade officials are expected to meet next month.
