JAMA says Tokyo motor show still on track

DETROIT (Reuters) - The Tokyo Motor Show, one of the auto industry's five major international shows, will go ahead as planned this year, organizers said on Tuesday.

Automotive News, a U.S.-based trade publication, reported earlier on Tuesday that the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA) was considering foregoing the show because fewer non-Japanese automakers had signed up for the event.

"We are not having any discussions to cancel the event," JAMA spokesman Nobuyuki Takahashi told Reuters.

"We will definitely go ahead with it," he said, adding that the public viewing days remain October 24-November 8.

Automotive News quoted JAMA Executive Director Toshihiro Iwatake as saying that although all Japanese and German carmakers had signed up, a few were not in favor of organizing the show under the current tough sales conditions.

Iwatake was quoted as saying a decision on whether to cancel would be made early next month.

U.S. automakers have virtually no presence in the Japanese market.

The North American International Auto Show, due to open to the public this weekend in Detroit, was scaled back this year as several foreign automakers, including Japan's Nissan Motor Co and Mitsubishi Motors Corp, canceled attendance to save money amid sliding industrywide sales.

(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim, editing by Richard Chang)