As the global economic downturn takes its toll on the world automotive industry, 22 major foreign automakers have announced plans to skip the October 2009 Tokyo Motor Show in an effort to cut costs. Just three foreign automakers will make an appearance — Lotus, Ferrari, and Hyundai.
Among those not attending the biennial show include General Motors, BMW, Volkswagen, Porsche, Ford, Chrysler, Maserati, and others. All 22 had attended the previous Tokyo Motor Show in 2007.
As reported earlier on LotusEnthusiast.net, Lotus is in a much more stable economic position than most of the industry and plans to increase production, add jobs, and globally expand Lotus Engineering in the next year.
A spokeswoman for the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA), which sponsors the event, said,
“It is unprecedented to see such a large number of carmakers not coming to the motor show. It’s disappointing.”
JAMA has confirmed the 2009 show will last 4 days shorter than the 2007 show and occupy about half the floor space.
Courtesy of LotusEnthusiast.net
-KF
