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DETROIT/NEW YORK (dpa) -- The car industry has defied the sales slump and put on an optimistic face, booking up all exhibit space at Detroit's traditional Auto Show in January, the organizer said Tuesday.
"The show is full up," Doug Fox, who heads the show, told the German Press Agency dpa.
About 50 models will be making their debut as part of the 700 vehicles on exhibit from January 11-24 in Detroit, Michigan, the heart of the U.S. car industry.
The number is about the same as January 2009, when 650,000 people visited the show. But some of the exhibitors will be returning who sat out last year's show, Fox said.
Names of participants will be released next week. Germany's Porsche manufacturer for example has preferred the rival auto show in Los Angeles.
A highlight of the show in Detroit's updated Cobo Hall will likely be electric cars, and environment-friendly models will be available for public test drives.
Electric cares also caused a stir at the International Automobilaustelling (IAA - International Car Exhibit) in Frankfurt in September, where 781 makers of cars, parts and accessories participated and drew 850,000 visitors. The record for the Frankfurt event was 1 million visitors in 2007.
This month's Tokyo auto show drew only limited participation by foreign producers.