TRANSPORTATION

Auto Show Popular: Organizers of the recent Orange County International Auto Show said 201,289 people attended the nine-day event, a 12% increase from 1991.

But whether all those people are car buyers or just window-shoppers is yet to be seen.

The county’s big three importers--Mazda, Mitsubishi and Hyundai--have not been having a stellar year so far.

Mitsubishi Motor Sales of America--whose 1991 sales were inflated by a big fleet sale to its wholly owned company, Value Rent-A-Car in Florida--posted a 31.6% sales decline in February, with 15,649 car and truck sales versus 22,889 a year earlier. Hyundai Motor America in Fountain Valley reported a 22.3% decline in February, to 6,849 sales from 8,811 a year earlier. Mazda Motor of America posted a decline of 16.6% in February, with 22,903 sales down from 27,468.

Neither American Suzuki nor Daihatsu America made February sales figures available Wednesday.