The Detroit Auto Show commenced at Huntington Place with the Charity Preview on Friday night, with thousands in attendance. The preview serves as the official launch of the 11-day event, uniting industry executives, politicians, local celebrities and community members in celebration.
This marks the Detroit Auto Show’s official return to January for the first time since 2019 when the show was moved to September. Organizers didn’t hold a 2024 auto show, opting to skip the September date to move the show back to its January roots.
The official start to the evening was the ribbon-cutting ceremony featuring Mayor Mike Duggan and Lt. Gov Garlin Gilchrist II, who joined auto show organizers onstage.
The proceeds from tickets sold – which cost $400 a piece – will benefit six charities: Boys & Girls Clubs of Southeastern Michigan; The Children’s Center; The Children’s Foundation; Detroit Auto Dealers Association Charitable Foundation Fund; Detroit PAL; and University of Michigan Health C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital. Within the past 25 years, the charity preview has raised over $125 million for children’s charities in southeastern Michigan.
MSU alumnus Sam Klemet helped spearhead this year’s show as the co-executive director, preparing to take on the executive director role for next year. Klemet said there’s one must-do for attendees this year.
“The ride and drive tracks – we have four of them, they have 40 different cars on those tracks,” Klemet said. “So you can see all kinds of vehicles. You can see the technology, how it operates, you can go up mountains, you can go over basically rivers, you can go anywhere. It’s an incredible experience.”
Audience members were invited onto the stage to dance with the performers at multiple points during the set. The concert ended with Flo Rida and Flavor Flav spraying the crowd with champagne and hopping off the stage to enter the center of the audience.
But Flo Rida and Flavor Flav weren’t the only star power of the auto show this year. Some of Hollywood’s most famous cars are on display at this year’s show, including the Ferrari replica used in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”; and authentic tributes of the “Jurassic Park” Jeep and the “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” Ford Wagon.
The Detroit Auto Show continues through Jan. 20 at Huntington Place in downtown Detroit.
