The Detroit Car Show was a strange affair this year, with often conflicting themes.

    Walking into the Cobo Centre in downtown Detroit, you are assailed by muscle cars like the Dodge Challenger, gas guzzlers like the Cadillac Escalade, and the whole range of American cars which seem to have been designed by people totally unaware of any petrol price crisis, or global warming scare.

    At the same time, chief executives of General Motors and Ford were belatedly pushing petrol-electric hybrid cars, in an attempt to show their green credentials as well. Toyota of Japan has a three year lead in hybrids, and accounted for more than half of the 200,000 hybrids sold in 2005. Given the availability of European diesel engines, which perform much better than hybrids for less cost and weight, you wonder about the savvy of American industry leadership.

    If there is a measure of the quality of the U.S. industry, it is undoubtedly in the bottom line of their accounts. GM is losing billions of dollars, while Ford is not doing much better. The Japanese are making money, led by Toyota, which is likely to overtake GM this year as the world’s biggest car maker in terms of production.

    These cars caught my eye at the show, and are offered in no particular order of preference.

   Pride of place goes to the Toyota Camry. It is America's best selling car, after all. The new design is little changed from the highly successful previous car. The rear end's been tweaked a bit. The most amazing fact is the $20,000 base price. Across the pond it would cost at least $10,000 more.

    One gripe about hyperbole - why call it the 2007 Camry, when it was unveiled in the second week of January 2006, and goes on sale in March? 

    Extended Rolls Royce Phantom. I had an unworthy thought while kicking the tires of this over-weight, over-the-top, in-yer-face behemoth. Weren't the dinosaurs wiped out millions of years ago? When I win the lottery I hope I have enough class to buy a discreet, understated Mercedes S class, or better still, a new Lexus LS.

    Dodge Caliber. I paid no attention to the Caliber until I found out that it replaced the dull, ordinary little Dodge Neon, and cost less than $14,000. Seen through European eyes this is some car for the money. In England it will probably cost close to $25,000.

    Chrysler Imperial. This concept car looks like a poor man's Rolls Royce, except for the suicide rear doors.

    Nissan Versa. Nissan seems to have slipped back again into bland mode, after leading the way with great looking cars like the Morano SUV. The desperately dull new Nissan Versa looks like an old Korean design.

    Mitsubishi Concept-CT. The CT might look deformed, weird even, but the electric motor on each wheel of this concept promises to provide cheap all-wheel drive, and point the way to electric cars.

    Volvo C30. It's only a concept, so there's time for Volvo to change its mind and dump this one. If you want a hot-hatchback, there's the Golf,  or the Audi A3 (if you must spend more on basically the same car). Volvos are solid, dependable and useful. If Volvo has any self-knowledge it will spike the C30 and concentrate on what it does best.

    Mazda Kabura. I think this concept is simply beautiful.

    Aston Martin Rapide. If you were put off buying an Aston Martin because it wasn't practical enough, you are in luck. This magnificent machine, still a concept, has 4 doors. Price? Aston Martin's not saying, but probably at least $150,000.

    Pontiac Solstice. I hope this car makes it to Europe. It looks great, promises a fun drive, and will finally provide some competition there for the Mazda MX-5 after the death of MG.

    Lexus LS460. The top-of-the-range Lexus has morphed from a boring, worthy barge, into a sleek, attractive BMW 7-Series killer.

    Ford Super Chief. Ford provided a real person to pace up and down and recite the qualities of this fabulously flawed schizophrenic monster. The first part of his spiel talked about how the Super Chief is planet-friendly and can run on gasoline, ethanol or hydrogen. The rest concentrates on how massive the engine is, its unbridled power, and the luxurious, no-expense-spared huge interior.

    Honda Fit/Jazz. Small cars are all over the Detroit show this year, and I reckon more and more Americans will be buying them. I can attest to the fantastic quality of the Fit, know as the Jazz in Europe; my wife Kathy owns one. It is rock-solid reliable, and its interior design is clever. Honda has placed the fuel tank under the front seats, freeing up space in the rear. You can transform the little car into a flat-floored van in no time. My mountain bike fits in easily, without removing any wheels. The rear "magic" seats flip up as though you were in a cinema. You can transport aspidistras, or let your kids change after they've been on the beach and it starts raining.