April 9, 1991

When Sue Anderson passed her driver's exam 10 years ago, she inherited the family Mazda. After graduation from college, she bought her family's Saab. Last year, the 26-year-old graphic designer from Grand Rapids, Mich., bought her first new car. It was a 1990 Mitsubishi Eclipse. "I never really considered buying an American car, which is not to say I wouldn't," said Ms. Anderson, who aspires to buy another Saab. "I guess buying a foreign car has been kind of ingrained in me." Foreign Cars Favored Ms. Anderson is part of the auto industry's "lost generation." A new wave of young drivers are shopping for their first new cars and trucks, and their biases spell deep trouble for the American auto industry. In large part, they are the children of the drivers who first traded their Fords, Dodges and Chevrolets in the 1970's for Hondas, Toyotas and BMW's. As they were growing up, their family cars were typically foreign makes, and they knew mostly horror stories about Detroit's products. Shaped by their parents' tastes, these young adults rarely set foot in the Big Three's car dealerships.

Chief Daryl F. Gates resumed command of the Los Angeles Police Department today, four days after he was suspended by the city Police Commission. But the judge who lifted the suspension scheduled a hearing in two weeks, and it seemed clear that control of the department would remain a divisive political issue. Saying that the commission acted illegally in suspending him pending an investigation of the beating of a motorist by the police, the Chief had asked the judge to reinstate him.

European Community leaders called on the United Nations today to create a haven in northern Iraq where Kurdish refugees could be protected from further repression. Prime Minister John Major of Britain, who put forward the proposal, said the details should be worked out by Security Council members in the coming days, but he left open the possibility that a United Nations force might be needed to put the plan in place.

COMPANIES Most rooms at the Plaza will be converted into condos if Donald Trump's latest plan goes through. Even by New York standards, prices will be astronomical, as Mr. Trump seeks to reap rich rewards from the landmark he bought three years ago. [ Page A1. ] I.B.M. is working to "reincarnate" its most powerful and expensive computers using the same low-cost and speedy technologies that have led to the explosive growth of work stations and personal computers, an I.B.M. executive said. [ D1. ]

The new president of I.B.M.'s mainframe computer division said in an interview yesterday that the company was working to "reincarnate" its most powerful and expensive computers using the same low-cost and speedy technologies that have led to the explosive growth of work stations and personal computers. The company, which introduced a new generation of mainframe computers last September, said yesterday that it was redesigning its large systems to take advantage of the growing power of inexpensive chips known as microprocessors. These chips combine all of a computer's functions onto a single piece of silicon, thereby significantly lowering costs and raising computing speeds. 'We Live in Rented Space' Nicholas M. Donofrio, who took over as president of the Data Systems division in January, also said yesterday, "I basically believe that our single greatest competitive threat is from our nontraditional competitors."