A full four-seat coupe, the Riviera concept features gullwing doors and design inspiration from Chinese artefacts

Vijay Pattni pays homage to the 100-year-old motor show with a peek at the hottest star cars.

Audi TTS

Audi has pumped up the redesigned TT to create a bona-fide road-rocket – the new TTS will come with an uprated 2-litre engine producing 272bhp and 260lbs/ft of pulling power – enough to propel the hot coupe from 0-62mph in just 5.4 seconds.

The Audi TTS will come with the Ingolstadt firm’s excellent magnetic ride damping system as standard, ensuring the dynamics can keep up with the power boost.

The new flagship of the Audi TT range will roll on 18-inch aluminium wheels and features newly styled LED bi-xenon headlights.

And the new Audi TTS is a fitting addition to the range, marking ten years of TT production.

Click here for more pictures of the Audi TTS

Mazda RX-8

The stunning rotary-engined Mazda RX-8 has been given a facelift – no pictures have been released ahead of its unveiling at the Detroit Motor Show, but the Japanese carmaker has released official images of its facelifted RX-8 RS version available in the Japanese market.

The next-generation Mazda RX-8 will feature styling based on the crazy Taiki concept previewed at the Frankfurt Motor Show last year, and will house a newly-engineered rotary engine which ups capacity from 1.3-litres to 1.6-litres, and uses lightweight construction to maintain the car’s near-perfect weight balance.

Buick Riviera

The stunning Riviera concept is based on design directions ranging from the 1960s Buick LeSabre and earlier Riviera concepts from the 1970s, and is an attempt to showcase the company’s new design philosophy.

A full four-seat coupe, the Riviera concept features gullwing doors and design inspiration from “Chinese artefacts and modern electronic icons”, while inside, the designers have made every effort to create a “sanctuary”.

Drivers and passengers will sit in high-quality leather bucket seats surrounded by blue and subtle creams, “representing water and earth”, with carpet and a luxury padded steering wheel completing the ambience. Overhead, the roof comprises two shaded glass windows.

Buick is keen to stress the car’s focus on luxury rather than performance, and the Riviera features a hybrid engine developed with Shanghai Automotive.

Lamborghini

The Italian carmaker is bringing the Gallardo Spyder and two Murcielago LP640 coupe and convertible models along to Detroit to showcase its “Ad Personam” personalisation programme.

This allows Lamborghini customers to fully personalise the paint and interior finish of their new car – for example, the demonstrator Gallardo Spyder features a matte brown ‘Maronne Apus’ paint with a brown alcantara interior complemented with special steering wheel covering.

The Murcielago LP640 convertible is painted in icy blue, with an untreated leather interior said to change colour over time, “a tendency that confirms its natural state and total absence of treatments.”

Click here for more pictures of the Lamborghini personalised examples

Ford Explorer America

The muscular concept Explorer aims to be Ford’s intelligent addition to the changing SUV market – using lightweight materials for the body and smaller engine sizes to reduce emissions, including the range topping 3.5-litre V6 producing 340bhp.

Inside, the Explorer gets single-touch, stackable sliding seats, a work-table and a three-dimensional compass and navigation unit.