In the same period, total European car imports dropped just 4.2 percent.

American car imports to Mexico have ground to a virtual halt.

It is beyond dissemblance to say the Japanese do not fear rising car imports.

In the early 1990s car imports numbered about 1,500 per month.

But there was also a big rise in car imports.

The bill would not include restrictions on car imports from Japan.

But foreign car imports did fall sharply - by 10.4 percent, to $4 billion.

The proposed regulation was written to crack down on illegal car imports.

About half the increase was in car imports from Japan.

In fact, American car imports to Japan are up by 66 percent this year.