Posted: 01/05/2011
Detroit (WXYZ) - Cobo Center is humming with workers, pounding, sawing, and erecting steel as they build out the displays for next week's North American International Auto Show.
Both Ford and General Motors are building double-decker displays. Chrysler has added floor space with the addition of Fiat as a separate brand.
Even though most of the major press conferences are being crowded into Monday rather than being spread over two or three days as they have in the past, event co-chair Bill Perkins says that is not a sign that the NAIAS is diminishing in importance. Rather, Perkins says, it was a request from the automakers to move the major presentations to Monday.
NAIAS Chair Barron Meade says currently sales for tickets to the Charity Preview are running ahead of last year's pace, but plenty are still available. The North American International Auto Show tickets are $250 dollars a piece. Organizers are hoping to raise between two and three million dollars for local charities.
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