Since moving from its old home well outside the city in Mukuhari to the more central Big Sight, the Tokyo Motor Show seems to have lost some of its lustre.
This was once a must-attend top tier show for global carmakers, but now it’s in danger of dropping out of the premier league and has become very much the preserve of the local manufacturers. Among those not attending once more were the US giants Ford and General Motors.
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These are not the greatest of times either for the Japanese industry, once the benchmark for quality. There has been the world’s biggest ever recall on the back of Takata’s faulty airbags which plunged the company into bankruptcy. Kobe steel has admitted to forging data on aluminium and other materials and just last week Nissan announced the suspension of domestic car production and is under regulatory scrutiny after admitting it used unauthorised safety inspectors.
The Nissan issue had an indirect impact on the Motor Show as company President Hiroto Saikawa stepped down as chairman of the Japan Automobile Manufacturers’ Association (JAMA) to deal with the crisis. That left Toyota boss Akio Toyoda to step in at the last minute to take charge of the show arrangements.
But, as they say, the show must go on and as ever, Tokyo was once again a showcase for innovative Japanese technology from the highly inventive to the wild and whacky.
In a world where almost everything gets leaked onto the web ahead of press day, there was still the odd surprise. Nissan managed to keep its major concept under wraps. The IMx, it said, “embodies the future of Nissan Intelligent Mobility”- it’s all about electrification, connectivity and autonomous driving.
Toyota introduced a fuel cell concept which it said has increased its range by 50% over the current Mirai sedan and it also introduced us to Yui, its in-car driving assistant. Based on deep-learning artificial intelligence technology, Yui will serve as a co-pilot and navigator that over time will read a driver’s emotions and anticipate one’s wants. Nice.
All of which goes to demonstrate that while the Tokyo Motor Show is not what it once was, Japanese car makers are still right up there with cutting edge technology.
