Auto importers to co-host Tokyo Motor Show

TOKYO —

The Japan Automobile Importers Association will co-host next year’s Tokyo Motor Show with the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, following a JAMA request aimed at increasing imported cars on display. JAIA Chairman Roland Krueger, who is president of BMW Japan Corp, said the JAIA has decided to grant the automakers’ request to join in organizing the biennial event slated to commence Dec 2, 2011, for a 10-day run.

But the co-hosting will not assure a comeback of foreign automakers that did not take part in the 2009 show due to the 2008 global financial crisis, JAIA officials said, referring to a factor that caused the latest show to suffer a 56.9 percent plunge in the number of visitors from 2007. The planned stoppage in September of the provision of a Japanese government subsidy to purchasers of environmentally friendly automobiles will likely affect sales of automobiles imported into Japan, he also said.

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