Tagged: detroit auto show

The North American International Auto Show is less than a month away.  But part of Detroit’s Cobo Center is still a very active construction site.

Rain is pouring through gaps in the roof.  Construction crews are using heavy equipment.  The space hardly looks like a scenic atrium.

But officials say wait three weeks.

The final phase of a $279 million renovation of Cobo Center is close to completion.

This week the The North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) opened to the press and industry professionals at Cobo Center in Detroit.

Kicking off the event was the North American Car and Truck of the Year Awards.

The 2012 Hyundai Elantra took 2012 North American Car of the Year.

And, the 2012 Land Rover Range Rover Evoque was named the 2012 North American Truck of the Year award.

Tracy Samilton reports:

The mood at the North American International Auto Show is upbeat. Sure, Europe’s debt crisis and the battered Euro have auto executives concerned, but so far that crisis isn’t stopping the U.S. economy’s improvement, albeit at a very measured (slow) pace.

You can read all Michigan Radio reports and see more photos and videos here.

On Saturday morning the show opens to the public.

Tickets are $12 each. Seniors and children are $6 each.

The show runs January 14-22.

The Detroit Auto Show is in press preview this week.

Michigan Radio’s auto beat reporter Tracy Samilton spoke with Jennifer White about her experience there.

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The last time I attended the Detroit Auto Show was around ten years ago.

Back then, the so-called “green” fuel efficient cars were relegated to a small corner of the Cobo Center. There weren’t that many, and most seemed to be concept cars.

The show seemed to be all about big powerful SUVs, and new cup holder designs, but little, if anything, was changing under the hood.