Britain's car industry is cancelling its showpiece exhibition in 2010 because of the economic slump, which has savaged demand for new cars.
The British International Motor Show, held every other year, attracts large crowds but the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said unprecedented challenges facing the industry had made staging the event impossible for exhibitors.
The news is a fresh blow for the country's struggling auto industry, which is getting a £2.3 billion aid package from the government to help it cope with plummeting sales.
“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 SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt.
The motor show is Britain's largest consumer exhibition.
The event returned to London from Birmingham in 2006 after an absence of three decades, in a shift designed to regain some prestige on the international arena.
When Britain's motor industry was at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s many manufacturers opted to unveil their latest models at the show.
But as the home-grown market shrank during the 1970s, the big car makers increasingly chose foreign venues like Frankfurt, Geneva and Detroit to showcase their new models.
Reuters