Foreign Brands Continue to Shun Tokyo Auto Show

Only four Western carmakers plan to exhibit at this year’s Tokyo auto show in October.

Overseas participation has been sliding for years, largely because Japan remains a tiny market for non-domestic brands. In 2018, only 10% of the 3.35 million non-mini vehicles sold in Japan came from Western producers.

The best-selling import brand—Mercedes-Benz—sold about 68,000 vehicles in Japan last year. This year’s Tokyo show lists only Alpina, Renault, Smart and Mercedes-Benz as non-domestic exhibitors.

Volkswagen tells Bloomberg News it won’t participate this year because it has no fresh models to unveil. BMW says it plans to stage its own event in Japan around the show, which will run Oct. 23-Nov. 4.