The 2010 North American International Auto Show in Detroit opens today

The first motor show took place in Detroit in 1907 at Beller's Beer Garden at Riverside Park.It was renamed the North American International Auto Show in 1989. Since 1961, it has been held at Cobo Center where it occupies nearly 1 million square feet of floor space.

The show begins with press preview days, industry preview days and a charity preview event. The charity preview raises money for local children's charities. In 2004 and 2005, the charity preview attracted 17,500 people at $400 a ticket and raised $7 million in total. 2006 was the sixth consecutive year the charity preview event raised over $6 million. 35,711 tickets were sold for the industry preview representing people from 24 countries in 2005 and 6,897 credentialed press from 63 countries. Over 800,000 attended during the days the show was open to the general public in 2004. It is estimated that the show generates a revenue of over $500 million to the local economy.

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