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What you missed at the Detroit auto show

Press days for the 2014 Detroit auto show wrapped up on Tuesday, and the sum total was more big reveals than we can shake a stick shift at. Production cars included the Ford F-150, Corvette Z06, BMW M3 and M4, Subaru WRX STI and the Porsche 911 Targa, while on the concept front we saw the Toyota FT-1, Nissan Sport Sedan and Kia GT4 Stinger just to name a few. Here are some of our favorites, in no particular order.

Driven: Renault Fluence Z.E.

Just over two years ago, Carlos Ghosn shocked the world at the Frankfurt motor show by unveiling four fully electric Renault concepts and committing the company to being a leader in EVs. ‘Drive the Change' has been the slogan used since then and the Fluence Z.E. is an important first step in what many see as a risky strategy by Renault.

Mechanics qualifications gained using Haynes manuals

MOST MEN enjoy a good Haynes car manual, whether they really understand it or not, but a group of youngsters has used the workshop guides to achieve their first qualifications in car mechanics. The first wave of the Haynes Mechanix scheme has seen a mixed gender youth club group, aged 15-25 and from Islington in London, use Haynes manuals along with guidance from experienced mentors to fix real problems on a real car. The donor Volkswagen, known as Percy the Polo, was a theoretical MOT fail and needed replacement spark plugs, a brake fluid replacement and much more, to give the aspiring tinkerers a broad spectrum of challenges.