AUTOS

Dealing Down: New-car dealers in Southern California say they are starting to see some improvement after four years of recession--but Auto Age Dealer Business magazine’s annual listing of the nation’s top 500 dealerships shows that the economic slump has taken its toll here.

California used to dominate the list--in 1990 there were 104 dealerships from the Golden State among the top 500 dealers by gross sales. In the latest rankings, for 1993, there are just 79.

Car buyers put 13 Orange County dealers on the list, down from 17 in 1990. That decline tracks the industry’s overall fortunes: There were 150 new-car dealers in Orange County in 1990, but the county Motor Car Dealers Assn. only counts 117 this year.