THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 11, 1995 TAG: 9505110445
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LON WAGNER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
For Virginia Beach car dealer Charles Barker, the Clinton administration's trade war with Japan couldn't come at a worse time.
But for Ford Motor Co. and the other American car companies, Clinton's hard-line stance is long overdue.
``They're hitting us at the worst time,'' said Barker, who owns Lexus, Infiniti, Toyota and Volkswagen franchises in Virginia Beach. ``I can't see how the politicians can't see through the cost of this to their employees and the American consumer.''
May through August is the busiest season for car dealers.
The administration could disrupt car sales if, as threatened, it imposes a tariff of between 25 percent and 100 percent on Japanese luxury vehicles if it can't reach a resolution with the Japanese government.
John Rintamaki, secretary of Ford Motor Co. in town for today's shareholders meeting, said U.S. car manufacturers just want to give Japanese consumers a chance to buy American-made cars.
Ford's sales in Japan have been increasing, from 5,400 in 1993, to 14,800 last year, to a 1995 level on pace to sell 25,000 vehicles, said Ken Brown, international communications manager for Ford.
The company sells another 30,000 vehicles with the Ford nameplate that are produced jointly with Mazda.
Last year, sales of foreign autos in Japan rose 46 percent to a record 301,000 vehicles, according to the Japan Automobile Importers Association.
The U.S. ``Big Three'' - Chrysler, Ford and General Motors - captured just 1 percent of the Japanese market last year, but that's nearly double their share a year earlier.
All foreign car sales comprised 4.4 percent of the 3.4 million passenger vehicles sold in Japan last year. By contrast, Japanese brand cars capture a 22 percent share of the U.S. market, the imbalance accounting for one-third of the record $66 billion U.S. trade deficit with Japan.
Though there are many barriers to selling American cars in Japan, Brown said the main obstacle is signing up dealers. Many dealers refuse to run a Ford franchise alongside a Toyota or Nissan franchise because they think the Japanese car companies will ``take retaliatory action,'' Brown said.
``Even at a time when their domestic business is bad and large proportions of them have excess sales capacity in their stores, they're still nervous about doing it,'' Brown said, ``because they think Toyota and Nissan are going to punish them.''
Ford's target is to increase its dealership network in Japan from its current 300 to 700 by the end of this decade. It's goal is to sell 200,000 vehicles per year in Japan by then.
American manufacturers and Japanese car dealers in this country have one common view: They don't want a trade war, just a fair end to the dispute.
``I hope, first off, that it doesn't happen,'' Barker said. ``I think a lot of things go down to the wire and some of the negotiators get through to each other.'' ILLUSTRATION: Ilustration
Ford Logo
Local dealers are nervous, but Ford says the United States has to
take a stand.
by CNB