Frankfurt Motor Show

Mainstream debuts
Among the mainstream debuts, which totalled 82 world premieres on the first day, this year have been the brand new Vauxhall Astra, Ford's second generation C-Max, Kia's latest Ceed and all-new B-segment Venga. Mini also unveiled its Coupe Convertible and Raodster concepts which it confirmed will go into production at its plant in Cowley, Oxfordshire.

This year's main emphasis, however, has been on new generation electric and hybrid vehicles.

Electric warriors
Amost every manufacturer unveiled an electric car, from the intriguing Peugeot BB1 and Citroën REVOLTe, to the sporty Audi e-tron, while Renault promised that all four of its zero emission concepts were "in the production pipeline."

If they weren't unveiling electric cars, companies were unveiling hybrids or green sub-brands such as Kia's EcoDynamics - the name which will be applied to the most eco-friendly cars within each Kia model range, all around the world.

With so many cars announced before the show, there were few major surprises. Audi just about managed to keep the lid on the e-tron.

Audi says the e-tron is a clear indication that it will develop an electric car and it's likely to be a sports car. VW's L1 was also closely guarded and highly radical.