Porsche, Daimler Snub Tokyo’s Car Show as China Eclipses Japan

Last Updated: October 20, 2009 04:48 EDT

By Makiko Kitamura and Kiyori Ueno

Oct. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Porsche SE, Daimler AG and Volkswagen AG all sent top executives to April’s Shanghai Motor Show as China is set to become the world’s largest car market. All three are skipping this week’s Tokyo Motor Show.

With the recession slashing global vehicle demand and Japan’s car sales headed for the lowest in three decades this year, no major foreign automakers will be represented for the first time in 45 years at the Tokyo event, formerly one of the world’s five biggest car shows.

“The Tokyo Motor Show is being snubbed by companies who made a beeline for Shanghai,” said Yuuki Sakurai, chief executive officer of Fukoku Capital Management Inc., which manages about 800 billion yen ($8.8 billion). “It’s just like investors being more interested in emerging-market stocks than in Japanese shares.”

The Tokyo show, open to the public from Oct. 23, will feature 108 automakers and suppliers. Compared with 26 foreign exhibiters at the last show in 2007, this year there will be only three; the U.K.’s Group Lotus PLC and Caterham Cars, and Germany’s Alpina Burkard Bovensiepen GmbH. In contrast with the Tokyo event, 1,500 exhibitors from 25 countries were present at the Shanghai show.

Foreign automakers and suppliers are passing on Tokyo to cut costs as vehicle demand drops in the world’s most rapidly aging country, whose population began declining in 2005. Imports accounted for just 176,723 out of Japan’s 5.08 million vehicle sales in the fiscal year ended March 31, representing a market share of 3 percent.

China Eclipses Japan

China overtook Japan as the world’s second-largest car market in 2006 and is set to surpass the U.S. for the top spot this year. U.S. vehicle sales are expected to drop by 23.5 percent to 10.1 million this year, according to an estimate by CSM Worldwide, an auto consulting company. In China, full-year vehicle sales may rise 28 percent to 12 million, according to a government forecast.

Japan’s market is expected to decline 8.5 percent to 4.3 million vehicles in the year ending in March. The show area in Tokyo has shrunk by about half to 21,000 square meters, or one- eighth of the 170,000 square meters allotted at Shanghai.

Even domestic truckmakers Isuzu Motors Ltd. and Hino Motors Ltd. are sitting out the Tokyo show, for the first time. Hino, Japan’s largest maker of heavy trucks, withdrew “due to the difficult business environment,” spokesman Yoshihiro Udagawa said.

Economic Contraction

Economists expect Japan’s economy will contract a record 5.7 percent this year and the unemployment rate will reach an unprecedented 6 percent in 2010, undermining consumer spending, according to a survey by Bloomberg.

In one parallel to Shanghai, the Tokyo Motor Show will feature electric cars alongside hybrid and gasoline-engine models. Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co., Japan’s three largest carmakers, are all displaying models designed to cut carbon emissions.

“In terms of scale and volume, China is the main attraction,” said Yasuaki Iwamoto, an auto analyst at Okasan Securities Co. in Tokyo. “But Japanese carmakers will remain the front-runner in environmental technologies. That won’t change.”

Honda, Mazda

Tokyo-based Honda will display a battery-powered concept car, the EV-N, and a concept electric motorcycle. Yokohama-based Nissan will show its Leaf electric car, to be sold starting next fiscal year. The carmaker’s shares have risen 46 percent this year.

Mazda Motor Corp., Japan’s second-largest car exporter, is developing a high-performance gasoline-engine car that achieves 32 kilometers (20 miles) per liter. The concept car, Kiyora, will be showcased at Tokyo Motor Show.

Toyota will unveil the four-seat FT-EV II electric concept car, which can run more than 90 kilometers on a full charge and can hit a top speed of more than 100 kilometers. The company’s stock has gained 23 percent this year.

The automaker will also show its FT-86 Concept sports car at the show. The model, which is set to be sold in 2011, is a compact rear-wheel drive sports car. Toyota will also display a plug-in version of its third-generation Prius gasoline-electric hybrid.

The three foreign exhibitors are all niche brands. Alpina configures Bayerische Motoren Werke AG cars, producing less than 2000 vehicles a year. Lotus makes hand-built cars with an aluminum chassis and Caterham builds two-seat racing vehicles in the U.K. It forecasts sales of 70 cars in Japan next year, according to Andy Bothwell, a spokesman for the company.

“There is great affection in Japan for anything quirky and British,” he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Makiko Kitamura in Tokyo at mkitamura1@bloomberg.net