The cars that turned heads at Detroit and had relevance to the UK market included both economy cars and supercars.

The Ford Verve concept, the highly-regarded four-door Fiesta saloon, was a crowd-puller and showed how easy it is to appeal to buyers on both sides of the Atlantic if the stylists try hard enough.

The Cadillac CTS coupé which took to the GM stand after the CTS-V, is regarded as the first Cadillac to have an immediate welcome within the ranks of usable supercars in western Europe.

There is no commitment to build it, but the response was so favourable and the need for a relaunch car from the brand so strong, that it is likely to get the green light.

GM’s head of product, Bob Lutz, said they benchmarked every German car in the sector before signing off the CTS-V on which the coupé is based. It has the magnetic ride control of the Corvette, traction management, and a 550bhp 6.2-litre V8 engine with six speed manual or automatic and steering wheel paddle shifters.

There is already commitment for it to be sold in Europe. Equally provocative was the Audi R8 V12 5.9-litre diesel with 500bhp which has yet to get a production slot.

The BMW X6 crossover seemed to have taken size reduction one step too far. The car remains bulky but its coupé styling cramps the interior.

And finally, the Land Rover concept LRX drops a shallow glass-house onto the Land Rover power house and generates an entirely new look.