- Favourite cars at Detroit Auto show - 2009
- Detroit Auto show preview
- Supercars at BIMS 2008
- Paris motor show 2008

Cars at Detroit Auto show - 2009

One thing's for certain: the 2009 Detroit motor show will be remembered as one of the most significant events in Motown's history.

It's fair to say that, normally, motor shows are of more interest to car manufacturers and car fans rather than the mainstream television networks. But with the American car industry facing what many claim is the biggest crisis in its hundred-year history, this year's Detroit show won the sort of media coverage normally reserved for disasters and war zones.

But while the possibility that at least one of America's 'big three' car makers might go out of business before next year's show brought hundreds of television cameras to Detroit, there was still plenty of normal motor show business going on as healthier manufacturers introduced new models to the world.

Predictably, most media attention was focussed on General Motors and Chrysler, both of which are being kept afloat by loans of billions of dollars from the American taxpayer.

GM, which owns the Vauxhall and Opel brands in Europe, even went to the trouble of organising an impromptu 'protest' on the show floor, bringing in some workers from local factories to give a noisy demonstration of their support for the company. But the company also deserves credit for introducing several significant new cars, including the funky Chevrolet Beat supermini – which will eventually go on sale in Europe – and a handsome all-electric Cadillac coupe concept called the Converj.

It was a different story at crisis-hit Chrysler, where everything from the company's desolate show stand to the jokes made by boss Jim Press about the loans the company has received from the US Government fell flat. The company's vast stand was filled with nothing more than the existing product line-up, with the only news being the promise of electric versions of some current models and the good-looking '200 EV' concept, that hinted at what the company's next generation electric saloon could look like. That's if Chrysler survives long enough to put it into production.

Elsewhere, though, Detroit delivered plenty of the new models and concepts that you would find at any show. BMW took the wraps off the next-generation Z4 roadster, which features a folding metal roof, and also the new Mini Convertible, which sticks with a folding fabric hood. Not to be outdone, Audi introduced its Sportback Concept, a broad hint at what its forthcoming A7 coupe-saloon will look like, in addition to a new 525bhp version of the R8 sportscar. And Jaguar joined in the fun with the new high-performance XFR, another member of the 500bhp-plus saloon club.

Perhaps the oddest launch was made by Mercedes, which used the evening before the show opened to give journalists an early look at its next-generation Mercedes E-class, a car that doesn't make its official motorshow debut until the Geneva show in March, and which wasn't even given space on Merc's show stand. Mercedes obviously thinks that it's good enough to warrant a longer wait.

Here - in no particular order - are our ten favourite cars from the first day of the show.