No-shows at Tokyo

After Nissan, Mitsubishi and Suzuki pulled a no-show at the Detroit autosalon in January, it was understandable that the snubbed Americans would return fire and decline the invite to Tokyo in October.

Unfortunately for the Japanese, the trend has not only stuck, but come full circle, with a huge number of the world's automakers apparently deciding to skip the big biennial show.

Rumours suggest the high cost of both attending and hosting an international motor show, and diminishing crowd numbers as the credit crisis boils over might have seen the biennial 41st Tokyo passenger vehicle show canned entirely.

But while the show must go on, the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) all but admitted most of the world's major automakers will not be attending the show.

JAMA has confirmed its local stable of Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Suzuki, Diahatsu and Toyota (and we may finally see what Toyota and Subaru have been working on).

Also in attendance are Alpina, Lotus, Ferrari, Maserati, Porsche and Hyundai. However, the numbers are drastically down for the tuner-heavy show.

Automotive News reports that Audi, BMW, Jaguar, Land Rover, Mercedes, Renault, Volkswagen and Volvo will all save their pennies back home.

Only 122 exhibitors have confirmed - and this might sound like a lot, but in 2007 there were 241.