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Detroit's Big Three Pull Out of this Year's Tokyo Auto Show

Confirming earlier suspicions, General Motors, Chrysler and Ford have already decided to shun this year's Tokyo Motor Show, according to a report by Automotive News. Supporting earlier rumors, the Big Three's individual reasons for this decision are quite a bit on the funny side, especially GM's.

The president of GM Asia Pasific, Rick Brown, told Autonews that their participation at the 2007 edition of the Tokyo Motor Show had cost them around $2 million dollars. “We won't be participating. If you really look at the business conditions that we are in right now, where we really have to make a bang out of every buck we spend, it's simply a business decision.” he said.

Considering we're talking about a multi-billion company here, 2 mil would seem like peanuts. Apparently, after sending Rick Wagoner to beg for money using a private jet, cost-cutting is the new pink at GM. “If you're going to the Tokyo motor show to raise the corporate flag or just do it for corporate presence, I think those days are gone,” Brown said. “It's not a good business decision.”

Chrysler's take on the matter was brought to the media's attention by Kaori Beppu, who is a spokesperson for Chrysler Japan: “Chrysler decided, under the current challenges and market situation the company faces, to pull out of TMS in 2009 in order to secure limited resources invested efficiently on activities necessary to sustain our business.”

Japanese media also received confirmation from the other 1/3 of Detroit's Big Three, Ford, that they won't be attending the 2009 Tokyo Motor Show either. “At this time, participating in the show just isn't a strategic priority,” Ford spokeswoman Jennifer Flake said in a statement. “Given everything else we have to balance in that region and in that market, that's not where we've chosen to prioritize our time and our resources.”

Given the fact that Mazda is more than closely tied with Ford, Flake failed to provide any information about the Japanese brand's participation to the show, while Volvo appears to be in the same situation. Now all there is to find out if the 41st Tokyo Motor Show will be even held this year or not, considering earlier rumors.
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About the author: Alex Oagana
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Alex handled his first real steering wheel at the age of five (on a field) and started practicing "Scandinavian Flicks" at 14 (on non-public gravel roads). Following his time at the University of Journalism, he landed his first real job at the local franchise of Top Gear magazine a few years before Mircea (Panait). Not long after, Alex entered the New Media realm with the autoevolution.com project.
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