W3 Volvo Penta Gm 3.0l 83422371 on 2040-parts.com

The Detroit motor show 2010 review, by Gavin Green

Motown may not have rediscovered its mojo but at least the car makers formerly known as the Big Three have regained a little bit of their old swagger since the misery of last year’s Detroit show. After all, it’s not every year that two out of three national car makers go bankrupt. The survivor, Ford, unsurprisingly looked the most confident at this year’s show, never mind that its star car was about as hometown as Bauhaus and bratwurst.

Opel Ampera preview

Opel has released a teaser sketch of its new five-door extended-range electric car ahead of its public debut at the Geneva Auto Show in March. Based on the Voltec powertrain and chassis architecture of Chevrolet's Volt, the Ampera promises to surpass that car in terms of style by some margin. The body appears to be nearly identical between the A- and C-pillars, but the deformed horseshoe-shaped headlamp design and two-bar grille come straight from the 2007 Flextreme concept, as do the car's tree-branch alloy wheels.

Audi A1 Quattro (2012) first official pictures

This is the Audi A1 Quattro, a 252bhp and four-wheel drive hot hatch that’s as exclusive as an R8 GT Spyder. Just 333 Audi A1 Quattros will ever be built so they’ll be a rare sight on the road – and particularly in Britain as the entire production run is left-hand drive, and Audi UK will import a tiny number only if there’s enough customer interest. So I probably can’t afford an Audi A1 Quattro, and I might never see one – what am I missing out on?