Into Third Place

Japan's busy automakers last week rolled out a pair of gifts. The first, personally delivered to Emperor Hirohito's palace by Nissan Motor Co. President Katsuji Kawamata, 62, was a 100-m.p.h. limousine--at last ending imperial dependence on foreign makes. The second was a gleaming batch of figures. They showed that in 1966 Japan had bumped Britain out of its No. 3 spot, moved in behind the U.S. and Germany in world car and truck production.

A Place to Park. Now Japan's fastest-growing industry, autos are matching the country's phenomenal successes in cargo ships, cameras, steel and electrical equipment. Japanese manufacturers last year turned out 2,286,585 cars and trucks, which represents a 360% increase over 1960, the year the industry began mass production in earnest. Though the total is about three-fourths of Germany's sales, the ten major Japanese builders plan a 32% increase this year to 3,024,000 units, and they look to overhaul Germany in a year or two.

They have ample reason for optimism. Trucks have long been the industry's staple, but more and more Japanese have the affluence to join the 1-in-48 group with a car (as compared with the U.S. l-in-2.4 ratio). Even now, Japanese cities are aswarm with cars. Tokyo residents may not buy a car unless they can prove that they have a place to park it. In Tokyo districts already choked by industrial air pollution, traffic cops counter the effects of auto-exhaust fumes by breathing bottled oxygen kept at precinct stations. Speaking of the market--though it could apply to the atmosphere as well--Nissan's Kawamata says that "the ceiling is not even in sight yet."

The industry's two leaders--Toyota Motor Co. and Nissan, which account for 70% of Japan's total production--are leading the push into overseas markets. Early attempts to export the underpowered, stiffly sprung cars built for Japan's potholedroads were flops. Now, says Kawamata, we do not "take second place to any make." Japan last year sold 266,000 cars and trucks from Kenya to South Korea. Best customer: the U.S., especially the West Coast, where Toyota's $2,000 Corona and Nissan's $2,300 Datsun are among the new rages on the road.

Shopping Around. With their overseas push barely under way, the Japanese are fearful that other countries' automakers, particularly Detroit, will soon try to return the compliment in force. So far, a foreign invasion has been held off by high (up to 40%) auto-import tariffs and a stiff capital-investment law that limits foreign ownership to 50% of any new venture and 15% of any existing Japanese firm. Japan is under strong world pressure to ease that law, and Ford is said to be shopping around for permanent residences for its men.

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