Detroit motor show 2012: full show report and pics

That's it. It's over. I’m not referring to the 2012 Detroit motor show, which runs until January 22, rather the fact that Motown's show will never return to its pre-2005 shape as a simple showpiece for the latest products of the Big Three US car makers.

Even though Detroit remains very much home for GM, Ford and Chrysler, and even though the mighty trio will put close to 10 million cars and trucks on American roads this year, it is now clear that the influence, finance, confidence and know-how of foreign car manufacturers will henceforward be crucial to success at Detroit.

Take the case of the new Dodge Dart, the compact sports sedan currently winning notice for its sporty character and low-slung all-American shape. It's actually an Alfa Giulietta underneath. Not only that, its chassis is likely soon to become the basis of a mid-sized sedan to be built by Chrysler in China, for sale both there and on export markets. And all this will take place under the management of as many Italians as Americans. The car is a truly international effort - and so is Ford's much admired new sedan flagship, the Fusion (eventually to be the 2013 Mondeo), which is actually the work of designers and engineers so disparate in origin that they defy classification.

Happily, this co-operation across borders is breeding success. The new Ford looks, inside and out, more like a premium car than ever, and an ideal replacement for the current Mondeo that continues ton earn plaudits. The Dodge, despite a hint of the jelly-mould about its flanks, has enough about it to please the traditionalists. Add to this GM's impressively taut and compact new Cadillac ATS (in size, if not spirit, successor to the unlamented BLS) and you have three credible, desirable saloons. One demerit for the Cadillac; once again GM talking about going European without waiting for a diesel to come on stream. Note from your man on the doorstep: it can't work.

Bentley don't have diesels yet, either, but they constructively showed their new 4.0 litre turbo V8 engine, plus some two-door Continental models subtly redecorated to take it. Without quite promising it, they made it clear that the new car will go close to halving the the 6.0 litre W12's fuel consumption, while still delivering huge performance. Mercedes were also talking high performance efficiency: their new aluminium-magnesium SL takes the long-lived two-seater model back to the realms of genuine sports cars from which it departed a couple of decades ago.

BMW showed the new 3-series, no longer news in Europe but certain to be successful in the US as it is wherever rational motorists can be found. Hyundai re-nosed the Genesis coupe and showed a turbo version of their oddball Veloster, a move that happily helps demonstrate that performance isn't something they'll shy away from forever.

King of the concepts? For me, Honda hit the high spot with its long-awaited NSX hybrid "two electric" supercar concept, which shows (as if we didn't know) that it has always needed a super-efficient performance flagship. Making it in the US makes sense if it to find the buyers the old model lacked, but we are disappointed to learn the car is still nearly three years away. Will it ever be closer? Lexus also excelled via the beautiful LF-LC hybrid coupe, which the company says carries the design cues ofva string of new production models. Bring 'em on!