Tokyo Auto Show
The Tokyo Auto Show next month (October 24-November 4) is getting worse as the days go on. Hyundai has just backed out of the Tokyo Auto Show and they were the last major foreign manufacturer to be in attendance at the show. The Tokyo Auto Show used to be the premier auto show in Asia. Now it is held every 2 years and clearly not very popular since no major automakers are going. The Detroit 3 backed out earlier this year stating that they need to try to save money. That’s supposedly the reason that all of these automakers have decided not to attend the Tokyo Auto Show, but not such good news for the show itself. Hyundai actually already had paid $122,000 in nonrefundable fees for their space at the show, but that is still far less than they would have paid had they actually gone to the show. It can cost millions of dollars to have an exhibit at these shows. I guess that it makes sense for none of these automakers to want to spend the money to go to the show, so it will be interesting to see if the LA show in November or the Detroit Auto Show in January are affected by the recession and current economic state. I remember reading that last year, automakers were scaling back, but I think they still attended and had exhibits at the shows, unlike the problems that the Tokyo Auto Show is currently facing. Maybe they should just cancel the show and wait 2 more years. Hopefully by then the economy will have turned around.