LONDON (AP) -- Next year's British International Motor Show has been canceled because car companies feel unable to commit under the strains of the economic crisis, the organizers said Thursday.
The last show, staged July 23 through Aug. 3 last year in London, featured 600 cars from 60 different manufacturers.
But with global auto sales plummeting and jobs being cut in droves, carmakers have said they simply cannot face the extra cost of the event, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, the organizers.
"The global credit crunch has placed the automotive sector under unique pressure and has created a level of uncertainty that deters manufacturers from committing to large-scale, international events," said Paul Everitt, chief executive of the society.
Automakers in Britain have been laying off workers and trimming production as sales have plummeted. The society said new car registrations in the first two months of the year were down 28 percent compared to a year earlier.