TOKYO: This year’s Tokyo Motor Show has been cancelled for the first time ever because of the coronavirus, Japan’s auto industry group said Thursday.

The biennial car show — one of Japan’s biggest industrial events — had been scheduled for the autumn, after the Tokyo Olympics take place this summer.

The last Tokyo Motor Show in 2019 drew around 1.3 million people, according to the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (JAMA). But this year’s event was cancelled because “it is difficult to offer our main programme in a safe and secure environment”, said JAMA chairman Akio Toyoda, also head of Toyota.