Noteworthy in show

DETROIT -- It is often easy to categorize an international auto show: the year of the truck, the year of the small car, the year of the minivan or crossover vehicle.

But that's not the case at the 2007 North American International Auto Show, which is open through next Sunday. The news out of Detroit has been all over the place.

General Motors, at a time when some have already written obituaries for the electric car, rolled out an electric car. While American companies try to get a piece of the expanding small-car market, Toyota roared into the Motor City with its biggest pickup truck ever. European makers are promising cost-saving, clean diesels for all 50 states within two years. And Chrysler launched a new version of the minivan -- a vehicle it invented -- even while Ford and General Motors are abandoning the minivan market to Asian competitors.

After pounding thousands of square feet of carpet-covered cement in the exhibition hall, here are 10 especially noteworthy cars on display at this year's show.

They are bringing back the Camaro. Cool. Can the Pontiac Firebird be far behind? But Ford has done this so successfully with the Mustang -- priced at less than $30,000 with 300 horsepower and a leather interior -- that it will be difficult for Camaro to compete. That's because the Camaro convertible has beautiful exterior body lines that will be expensive to stamp out. Bends, folds, and kinks cost money, a wise designer once told me. Here's hoping style and cost match up.

Have we forgotten that the minivan -- long of tooth, politically incorrect in certain circles these days -- originated in the United States? Ford and General Motors have abandoned the market, and Honda, Toyota, and the Korean automakers are happily taking their sales. And while the market for minivans may not be booming, it is lucrative. So Dodge (which is German-owned), has come out with a "family room" on wheels, complete with swivel seats for gaming.

It comes in 31 varieties and is being built in the heart of truck country -- Texas and Indiana -- but the Tundra hit this show like a hurricane from offshore. How will American companies react? And can they? Ford's F-Series is already the best selling vehicle on the planet, Chevy's Silverado leads that company's truck sales, and Dodge is burping with its big trucks. We can only look at this big Toyota as a new bully on the block.

What was Ford thinking about when it let this utilitarian, compact and affordable car slip from the American scene even as Honda (Fit), Toyota (Yaris), and Nissan (Versa) introduced subcompacts in a time of high gasoline prices and consumer anxiety? So here we go again and, hopefully, Ford gets it right this time. If you have a good idea, keep building the cars.

I was telling the Smart guy on the showroom floor that I get lots of e-mail from Massachusetts readers asking why I have not written about the Smart car that is soon supposed to be available in the United States. I can't tell anybody what I think of a car until I actually drive it, which I hope to do this summer.

Remember the name Changfeng, not so much for this SUV the Chinese automaker displayed here, but because of the company's intent -- to build cars to sell in the United States, even as domestic automakers build cars in China to sell here. Remember, four decades ago Honda and Toyota sounded foreign.

Watch out for Cadillac. While Buick seems to be fading the way many of its buyers don't come down to breakfast anymore, Cadillac has gotten more edgy. This car will be the base of the brand's future.

A significant style statement from Honda. Will the humped rear, sharp lines of its front, and elongated hood transfer to the rest of the line? And when does Honda/Acura make it clearer that the company is more than a tossup competitor to Toyota?

Hopefully, Ford will not let its own woes bleed into the Volvo brand because Volvo is a small company that needs support. It builds great and safe cars. Volvo's foray into small cars -- like the upcoming C30 -- is highly anticipated at this address. Its reduced-size crossover concept had German engineers crawling all over it in Detroit.

I thought the electric car was dead. But here comes General Motors with a vehicle that runs on battery juice, uses sips of gasoline to keep charged, and could deliver the equivalent of 150 miles per gallon of gasoline. But the question remains: Will anyone other than people who still keep their pens in a pocket protector be willing to stop, plug in, and recharge after 60 or so miles of driving?

Royal Ford can be reached at ford@globe.com.