Nov. 26 (Bloomberg) -- General Motors Corp. scrapped the fashion show attended by Hollywood celebrities, and Chrysler LLC is leaving the longhorn cattle on the range, not the streets of Detroit.

Gloom hangs over preparations for the 21st annual North American International Auto Show in January as GM, Chrysler and Ford Motor Co. struggle to survive, industry sales plunge and eight overseas carmakers cancel or limit their role in the main U.S. forum for promoting new models.

“This year is going to be the most somber show of the series,” said Dennis Virag, president of Automotive Consulting Group in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “It’s not going to have the glitz and glamour and festivities that have been there in previous years.”

Nissan Motor Co., Japan’s third-largest automaker, stunned organizers this week by saying it would skip the show to save cash. Honda Motor Co., No. 2 in Japan, said yesterday it would forgo “traditional” press conferences for its vehicles.

“Nissan was a tremendous shock,” said Doug Fox, owner of Ann Arbor Automotive in Ann Arbor and co-chairman of the 2009 show. U.S. executives of Tokyo-based Nissan “said the decision came from Japan and was purely economic,” Fox said.

Industry Slump

Industrywide U.S. sales fell 15 percent this year through October as the credit crunch cut loan access and the recession pushed consumer confidence to a record low. New-vehicle demand may fall next year to the worst since 1991.

That’s aggravating the GM, Ford and Chrysler losses that sent the automakers to Congress in search of $25 billion in federal loans to stave off a collapse. While Congress will take up an aid package next week, a rescue plan may still be pending during the show’s press-preview days on Jan. 13-15.

Gone is “GM Style,” the Detroit-based company’s event from the past two years with new vehicles and entertainers such as Kid Rock and Mary J. Blige on display.

Also absent in 2009 will be the livestock paraded through downtown to showcase a new pickup, as Chrysler did this year. Free beer will flow for just one night, not three, for reporters at the Firehouse, a Chrysler-sponsored watering hole near the Cobo Hall convention center.

Besides Nissan, this year’s no-shows are Mitsubishi Motors Corp., Suzuki Motor Corp., Ferrari SpA, Land Rover and Bayerische Motoren Werke AG’s Rolls-Royce. Porsche SE pulled out of Detroit in 2007.

New Models

GM pushed ahead with new products while shedding parties such as the fashion show. It added more new-model debuts after canceling press events at last week’s Los Angeles Auto Show, said Tom Wilkinson, a spokesman.

“It’s our home show and we want to make a good showing,” he said. GM is seeking $12 billion in federal aid and has said it may run out of operating cash as soon as the end of this year.

Ford and Chrysler, based in the Detroit suburbs of Dearborn and Auburn Hills, respectively, also will have the usual floor displays, as will Toyota Motor Corp., Japan’s largest automaker.

Chrysler will be more “prudent” with how it spends money while keeping its show schedule, said Rick Deneau, a spokesman. Ford still plans to have executives attend auto-show press conferences, said a spokeswoman, Jennifer Flake.

Toyota will unveil a redesigned version of its best-selling Prius hybrid as well as the HS 250H, the automaker’s first dedicated gasoline-electric model for its Lexus luxury line.

‘The Mission’

“While we and everybody else are looking at ways to contain costs, the mission is to sell cars,” said Mike Michels, a spokesman. “If we completely back out of that, we’re risking our own future.”

Hyundai Motor Co., Kia Motors Corp., Mazda Motor Corp. and Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd.’s Subaru, and Germany’s Volkswagen AG and its premium Audi brand, all said they still plan to attend.

Still, consultant Virag said Nissan pulling out has set the tone for other automakers.

“Everyone, whether foreign and domestic companies, is struggling right now,” said Virag, who helped with promotions for the show in the early 1990s.

Honda scaled back its Detroit plans “in consideration of the current business environment,” said Kurt Antonius, a spokesman for the Tokyo-based company’s U.S. unit.

Passing on the show is “no slight against Detroit,” said Alan Buddendeck, Nissan’s vice president of corporate communications for North America. The move was “based on the fact that we have no major new products to show” and “current economic conditions,” he said.

Fox, the show co-chairman, said that while he understood Japanese automakers’ concern that “glitzy” celebrations would be unwise amid an industry crisis, Nissan’s decision to stay home was “an overreaction.” His dealership group sells autos from Nissan, Honda’s Acura, Hyundai, Mitsubishi and Kia.

“Maybe it just would be better not to have fog and smoke at the press conferences,” Fox said. “We see this as a one- year hiatus. A year from now the economy will look better.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Alan Ohnsman in Los Angeles at aohnsman@bloomberg.net; Doron Levin in Southfield, Michigan, at dlevin5@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 26, 2008 13:09 EST