- the Scimitar, which will replace Robin on the Reliant and offer yet another low-volume, high-performance roadster to the British consumer
- the Axiam, which is a quadricycle powered by a 400 or 500 cc diesel parallel twin good for 100 km/h at the very most
- the Ascari, that's good for 0 to 100 km/h in 4 seconds with a tuned-up version of the BMW M5 V8
- the Ecovec Sparrow, a three-wheeled city car that's been described as "an Italian boot with wheels", and
- the Perodua Kentari, a mini-wagon with a 989-cc three-cylinder engine.
Next to this stuff and others, the new real world vehicles on display look exceedingly bland. But another viewing of some of the new cars we're not going to get make me wish even more that we did.
Ford's Mondeo, for example, seems a lot more suitable for North America than the version from which they made the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique. This current car would sell here, but the boat seems to have departed on that.
If fuel prices or availability ever become a serious issue, the Vauxhall (or Opel in Europe) Corsa could very well serve as the answer for a subcompact car in North America. It has surprising refinement and road presence, and the Easytronic transmission combines the convenience of an automatic with the economy of a manual.