A month before the Show, the Road Transport Vehicle Act was revised, and the definition of a small car was changed from "up to 1500cc" to "up to 2000cc." JMIF provided visitors with "Digest of the new RTVA" and held an essay contest on "How New Road Traffic Should Be."

The industry saw some major changes in this year. First, an imported car show was held at Enoshima Kaigan in Kanagawa Prefecture, as though competing with the all Japan motor show. This must have gotten the attention of the Japanese automakers, as the general public had a deep-rooted admiration for foreign cars in those days. Furthermore, the industry was severely shaken by the government s announcement that it sought to liberalize trade and exchange-rate transactions by 80%, in three years. The automobile industry was seen as one of the industries most vulnerable to damage from liberalization. Especially passenger cars, due to small production volume, were not competitive with foreign cars in cost let alone quality and performance. The 7th Motor Show thus featured beautiful young women at each showy exhibitor, to better compete with foreign makes.

The exhibits numbered 358, far more than the previous show, reflecting the liberal mood. One highlight of the Show was Toyota s exhibit of the Publica show car with its catch phrase, "Everybody s Car." The four-seater equipped with a 700cc air-cooled engine and priced at ¥389,000 was called a $1000 car ($1=¥360 at that time), and attracted much attention. Toyota also announced its second generation Corona "PT20" with the catch phrase "All new except the tires." Nissan introduced the "Cedric" with four headlights, a product springing from the technical tie-up with Austin. Fuji Precision Machinery marketed the four headlight "Gloria," and Toyo Kogyo presented a midget car with four-wheel independent suspension, the "Mazda Coupe," at the low price of ¥310,000. Fuji Heavy Industries developed "450" to follow "360." Every manufacturer showed great enthusiasm in "taishusha," or mass-market cars. Price competition was tough amid the new models as the automakers were conscious of liberalization. This show was characterized by an increase in passenger models sold on ¥500,000 level. Visitors numbered 812,400, a large increase over the previous show s 653,000.