U.S. Imports of Japanese Autos This figure uses data on Japanese imported cars from 1979 to 1982, before and after the “voluntary” export restraint with Japan began. The horizontal axis shows the change in the quantity sold (in percent) between these years, and the vertical axis shows the gas mileage of each model. The models with the lowest mileage—such as the Maxima, Cressida, and Mazda 626—experienced the greatest increase in sales between these years.