Revival of Tokyo Motor Show now set for 2023

TOKYO — The Tokyo Motor Show will return in 2023, after organizers canceled it this year for the first time because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Plans for the revived show were announced last week by Akio Toyoda, the Toyota Motor Corp. president who also is chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association, which has hosted the fall auto exhibition since its inception in 1954.

Toyoda, speaking in his role as head of the association, a position he has held since 2018, said the show will occur under the banner of "Green and Digital" — a move to showcase the Japanese industry's push to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

"There is a long path toward achieving carbon neutrality by 2050," Toyoda said. "This theme will represent the beginning of that path and will be about sending a medium- to long-term message.

"I think our will and action today will change what the future will look like," he said.

The decision to cancel this year's show was announced in April. At that time, Toyoda said the pandemic made it impossible to hold an in-person event where automakers could connect with customers. The 2023 gathering hopefully won't face such obstacles, he said.

"I believe that the show will be a big event where people can actually get together in the real world for the first time in a few years," Toyoda said. "We will continue to study plans for the next show, with hopes of making it an all-industry show with participation from other industries."

Toyoda helped steer a tentative revival of the Tokyo show in 2019. He set a goal of attracting 1 million visitors, and the 12-day show finished with more than 1.3 million stopping by.

That tally represented a 70 percent surge over the 771,200 who attended in 2017.