Kimiyuki Suda should be a perfect customer for Japan's car-makers．He's a young, successful executive at an Internet-services company in Tokyo and has plenty of disposable 【B1】 ．He used to own Toyota's Hilux Surf, a sport utility vehicle．But now he uses 【B2】subways and trains．'It's not inconvenient at all,' he says．【B3】 , 'having a car is so 20th century．'
Suda reflects a worrisome 【B4】 in Japan; the automobile is losing its emotional appeal, 【B5】 among the young, who prefer to spend their money on the latest electronic devices．【B6】 mini-cars and luxury foreign brands are still popular, everything in between is 【B7】 ．Last year sales fell 6.7 percent, 7.6 percent 【B8】 you don't count the mini-car market．There have been 【B9】 one-year drops in other nations: sales in Germany fell 9 percent in 2007 【B10】 a tax increase．But experts say Japan is 【B11】 in that sales have been decreasing steadily 【B12】 time．Since 1990, yearly new-car sales have fallen from 7.8 million to 5.4 million units in 2007.
Alarmed by this state of 【B13】 , the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) 【B14】 a comprehensive study of the market in 2006．It found that a 【B15】 wealth gap, demographic (人口结构的) changes and 【B16】 lack of interest in cars led Japanese to hold their 【B17】 longer, replace their cars with smaller ones 【B18】 give up car ownership altogether．JAMA 【B19】 a further sales decline of 1.2 percent this year．Some experts believe that if the trend continues for much longer, further consolidation (合并) in the automotive sector is 【B20】.
【B1】