It’s final - we won’t see even a hint of Nissan at this year’s North American International Auto Show (NAIAS).

The Asian auto make has announced late last year that the company would not be making an appearance at the 2009 NAIAS. Local dealers, however, pressed on and expressed intentions to show models on the floor.

“The dealers were going to support a presence and all stepped forward,” said Doug Fox, owner of Ann Arbor Nissan. “But the week before Christmas we received a request from Nissan to please respect their decision to not have a presence at the North American International Auto Show.”

Despite the dealers’ disappointment, they agreed to respect Nissan’s national decision to not participate in the 2009 NAIAS. In November, Nissan said that the make’s decision was based on efforts to cut back on marketing expenses.

Perhaps due to the global economic slump, other auto makes have also pulled out of the 2009 NAIAS. Aside from Nissan, we won’t be seeing Ferrari, Land Rover, Mitsubishi, Porsche, Rolls-Royce, and Suzuki at the show.

But despite these makes’ absences, organizers of the year’s premium auto show have said on the 2009 NAIAS website that attendees can expect “plenty of thought-provoking new technologies and head-turning designs”.

Let’s see about that, eh? See you in Detroit next week!

(source: www.automobilemag.com, Detroit Free Press)