The 2009 edition of the Detroit Auto Show was depressing on a variety of levels, ranging from the number of automakers who either pulled out or didn't bring anything new, to the industry's general malaise as a whole. The show was upsetting on a regional level because attendance dropped.

Luckily, 2009 is in the books and 2010 appears to be better on nearly all fronts. While new introductions at the show seemed down this year again, the bright side is that more automakers participated and, perhaps more importantly for the struggling region, attendance was up in a big way.

The Detroit News reports that 715,000 men, women and children paid up to $12 to attend the show this year - up 65,000 from 2009's dismal numbers. Part of the reason for the increase came courtesy of surprisingly good weather (for Detroit), while the overall outlook of the industry isn't (quite) as dire as it was one year ago. Also, that higher attendance number happened despite the fact that the Audi display caught fire and cleared Cobo for one afternoon.


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they had a fire and had to clear everybody out for a couple of hrs and still 715,000 attended at 12.00 a piece