Hyundai Latest To Pull Out Of 2009 Tokyo Motor Show

2009 Tokyo Motor Show

Enlarge Photo

The Japan Automobile Manufacturers' Association (JAMA) has decided not to cancel this year’s Tokyo Motor Show, despite most of the world’s automakers pulling out of the event. Skipping the show this year will be the Detroit 3, as well as automakers from Germany, France, Sweden, and China, and now we can add South Korea to that list.

Hyundai, the last major foreign automaker which was scheduled to participate in next month's show, has decided to pull out with just weeks to go, organizers say.

The situation has become so bad that it’s estimated this year’s show will only see half the number of exhibitors as the last event back in 2007. This year's show also will be four days shorter and have about half the floor space, JAMA has previously confirmed.

"Companies are reacting to the current economic environment," JAMA Chairman Satoshi Aoki previously stated. "This is a once-in-a-hundred-years crisis."

Hyundai’s exodus means that there will be just two minor foreign manufacturers at the upcoming event: Lotus and Germany’s Alpina Burkard Bovensiepen.
It can cost millions of dollars to exhibit, and even some Japanese companies have requested that the show be canceled.

Despite its importance, January’s Detroit Auto Show also saw a number of major automakers pull out, including the likes of Nissan, Suzuki, Porsche, Rolls Royce, Ferrari, Mitsubishi, and Land Rover, and it appears that the same has happened to the Tokyo event. Show doors will open on October 24.

[AutoNews, sub req'd]