Focus shifts to domestic products

With such pressure on the home front, Japanese automakers struck a more defensive stance at the show. Almost all of the Japanese-brand concept vehicles on display were devoted to a segment unique to the Japanese market. Gone were the products once aimed primarily at overseas customers. Prominent among the usual bevy of concept cars were the RV models, which have captured nearly one-third of the Japanese car market. Japanese RV sales have more than tripled since 1985, growing from 300,000 station wagons, SUVs and minivans to 1.1 million domestically built units in 1994. Annual RV volume rose 400,000 units between 1991 and 1994 alone, while the passenger vehicle market (excluding minis) shrank from 5.9 million to 5.0 million. "The main players in the changing Japanese market are RVs, the only models doing well," says one Isuzu Motors Ltd. executive.