Cars and Us

With short overhangs, a high beltline and its DLO appearing to wrap around the car, the Countryman embodies the brand's iconic design language but re-interprets the roofline, hexagon radiator grille, large headlights and upright rear light clusters in new way. Flared wheelarches highlight the robust character of the new crossover, giving the vehicle a purposeful and powerful stance.

Inside, the new car features a familiar layout and design elements with some trim enhancements. The addition of a new 'center rail' that extends from front to rear instead of a conventional center console integrates storage boxes, cupholders, external audio devices, mobile telephones and other comfort features, while simultaneously forming an unconventional visual and functional connection between the front seats and the rear passenger compartment.

Volkswagen's New Compact Coupe (NCC) concept previews the next Jetta, but with two-doors rather than four. The car's front - minus the hybrid-style closed grille - pretty much represents the new face of the sixth-generation production Jetta due on sale this November, and its syling is informed by the latest Polo as well as some recent concepts from the German brand.

It's understandable to be confused given the number of similar-looking concepts shown over the last three years but Detroit 2010 finally saw the global production unveil of the Honda CR-Z coupe.

Unfortunately the car that actually goes on sale this summer seems to have lost some of the finesse of its 2007 and 2009 Tokyo show concept incarnations. The big and gapey Maserati-esque front grille still dominates the face of the car but the concepts' prominent Honda badge inside it has migrated to the hood and the stylish blue-tinged and LED-heavy front lights make way for more conventional ones.

The CR-Z is shorter than its sister hybrid five-door Insight by 295mm with a 115mm shorter wheelbase too. Its side profile looks broadly similar to its concept predecessors but at the back the 2007 concept's strikingly dominant vertical blacked out section connecting the centralized twin chrome exhausts at its base to the top of the rear window is long gone (as are those pipes). The rear lights also no longer curve up to meet a shoulder line that dipped downward at the rear. On the 2009 production model they are sharper and sit more horizontally above a chunky bumper section, although the hatch still features a see-through lower vertical section akin to those found on the Honda Insight, FCX Clarity and European Civic.

Arguably the biggest change on the US production model is on the inside where the two-plus-two seating arrangement has been swapped for a straight two seats (Europe and Japan still get two-plus-two). For the US version the package behind the front seats is little changed aside from the removal of the small rear seats, leaving a fold-down rear bulkhead that extends the load space and creates two secret box areas underneath.

Elsewhere the dashboard's two-tone gray plastics feel and look cheap and some of the metal effects are different colours and finishes. Overall, on this limited viewing, its design fails to convince as a slightly upmarket sports car so the hybrid's manual gearbox drive will have to be exciting and the price keen if it's to succeed.