The number of exhibitors at the Tokyo Motor Show will plunge 49 percent this year as automakers including BMW and Daimler pare their spending on marketing amid falling demand for new vehicles, the organizer said Tuesday.
The event will host 122 companies this year, down from 241 in 2007 when the show was last held, according to the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association. The exhibition, starting Oct. 23, has also been shortened by four days to 13.
Volkswagen, Ford, General Motors and Chrysler will also sit out the Tokyo show, one of the industry's largest, as carmakers cut costs amid the global recession.