Sales of cars, trucks and buses in Japan dropped 5.6 percent in July from the year before, the Japan Automobile Dealers` Association reported. Sales had increased 0.5 percent in June, the first year-on-year gain in 14 months. Japan`s motor vehicle sales totaled 541,599 units in July, down from 574,019 a year earlier. Car sales fell 6.9 percent, to 382,255 units, and truck sales fell 2.5 percent, to 157,275 units. . . Luxury German automaker BMW announced a 10.5 percent gain in earnings for the first six months of 1992 and forecast full-year production would surpass its 1991 record. The net profit rise to $282.8 million from $256 million last year was slightly below forecasts by analysts. In the U.S., BMW`s car sales rose 30 percent, to 31,000.
. . . Swedish automaker Saab Automobile AB said its car sales in the U.S. fell to 2,110 in July from 2,149 a year earlier. The company said its U.S. car sales from January to July 1992 were down 1 percent, to 15,832 from 16,012 for the 1991 period. Saab Auto is owned by General Motors Corp. and Sweden`s Saab- Scania AB, a subsidiary of Investor AB.
