Inside Report (6)

Imported autos aren't the only motor vehicles threatening the American market. Tractors, it seems, are, too.

More than half of all tractors sold in the US last year were imports. A primary source: Japan. Japanese imports soared from 6,949 tractors in 1976 to 64 ,523 in 1979 a 28 percent share of the US market. Government figures show a further rise in in ports in 1980 to 88,000, with a total value of $629 million.

A frequent complaint: US manufacturersm have been slow to produce compactm models -a line abandoned in them 1950's and '60s. Small tractors broughtm from overseas represent at least one-m fourth of the US market.m