World Exports of New and Used Automobiles: A Gravity Model Comparison among the European Union,Japan and the United States

This paper considers new and used automobile exports of the European Union, Japan and the United States within a gravity model framework. This standard framework has similar explanatory power for the new and used automobile exports of the European Union and the United States, as well as for the new automobile exports of Japan, but not for Japan's used automobile exports, a finding the paper associates with the importance of left-hand driving in determining the markets for Japan's used (but not ‘made to order’ new) automobile exports. The paper concludes that, while used automobiles are somewhat more important to lower income markets, controlling for discrimination and other factors, used automobile trade clearly supplements new automobile trade from the prospective of the importing country.