Acura
Southern California is home to some 15 design studios set up by major world automakers. Honda will soon open two more. Both will serve the upscale Acura brand, which is going global after 20 years as strictly a U.S.-market nameplate. Highlighting this expansion, Acura unveiled an "Advanced Sedan Concept" to signal what its "future design language might be." Timid it isn't. Click here for more.

Aston Martin
James Bond's favorite motorcar brand favored L.A. with the world debut of its promised 2008 V8 Vantage convertible. Sales begin next fall. Like the Vantage V8 hatchback coupe, the convertible seats two behind a 4.3-liter V8 with 380 hp. Transmissions are a 6-speed manual or an optional Sportshift 6-speed automated manual with steering-wheel paddles and no clutch pedal. Both are rear-mounted. Click here for more.

Audi
Another fitting world debut for convertible-crazy L.A was Audi's 2008 TT Roadster. Like the redesigned '07 TT coupe, the open-air version adopts sharper bodylines and larger dimensions, growing 5.4 inches longer and 3 inches wider on a 1.5-inch longer wheelbase. Model choices are also the same: a base front-drive 2.0 T with a 200-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter 4-cyl engine and a 250-hp 3.2 V6 version with Audi's Quattro all-wheel drive. Both come with a 6-speed manual transmission and offer Audi's optional 6-speed "S-Tronic" automated manual, formerly known as DSG. Click here for more.

BMW
BMW's redesigned 2007 X5 was another world debut at L.A. That's fitting, as BMW builds this SUV in South Carolina and sells some 43 percent of them in the U.S. Against the 2000-2006 generation, the '07 is 7.4 inches longer, 2.4 inches wider and two inches taller on a 4.5-inch longer wheelbase. It's also heavier by up to 408 lb. But the plus-sizing does make room for three-row seating, a first-time option to up passenger capacity from five to seven. Two models are offered. The entry-level 3.0si uses BMW's latest 3.0-liter inline 6-cyl, tuned for 260 hp. The uplevel 4.8i has a 4.8-liter V8 with 350 hp. Both models come only with a 6-speed automatic transmission and BMW's all-wheel xDrive without low-range gears. Click here for more.

Buick
This sales-challenged General Motors brand used L.A. to present its 2008 Enclave crossover SUV. Enclave shares GM's new Lambda platform with the 2007 Saturn Outlook and GMC Acadia, but differs in standard features and design bling. It's more expensive too, though pricing won't be released until sales begin late this spring or early summer. Though Buick calls it a midsize, Enclave rides on a 118.9-inch wheelbase. That's on par with big truck-type SUVs like the Chevrolet Suburban and Ford Expedition, and provides decent room for a standard 3rd-row bench seat. Click here for more.

Chrysler
Yet another drop-top debutante was the redesigned 2008 Chrysler Sebring convertible. It's slated to reach showrooms in the second quarter of next year. Pricing will be announced shortly before. Chrysler hopes to its extend its convertible sales leadership by covering a broader price spread. How? By offering three top types: folding vinyl, optional folding fabric, and a first-ever retracting hardtop. Click here for more.

Ford
America's beleaguered number-two automaker rolled out its redesigned 2008 Ford Escape and Escape Hybrid compact SUVs. They go on sale in early '07. Highlights begin with standard curtain side airbags with rollover sensors and antiskid/traction control, safety features that were previously optional. Powertrains are little changed, but the Hybrid gets a second-generation drive system that's claimed to be smoother in switching between electric and gas-engine modes. Click here for more.

General Motors
In a pre-show keynote speech to reporters, GM president and CEO Rick Wagoner declared the company will offer plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHVs) as soon as battery technology allows. He also announced a new "two-mode" hybrid system to be offered as a 2008 option for full-size Chevrolet and GMC SUVs and for a redesigned front-drive Saturn Vue compact SUV. The announcements throw down the green-machine gauntlet to hybrid front-runners Toyota and Honda. They also counter recent negative publicity that GM "killed" the pure electric car in ending its EV1 program back in 2002. Click here for more.

Honda
Honda brought three concepts to L.A. 2007, two from Japan, the other from its California design team. The last, dubbed Remix, is a compact sports coupe with square, chunky lines, a high-set rear hatch, and likely miserable outward vision. Though some analysts see this as a prelude to a new low-priced youth-oriented CRX model, Honda has no plans for production. The same holds for the even funkier StepBus, a kind of short-body Element with two sliding side doors, a versatile five-seat interior, and a grooved dashboard for hanging on cupholders, iPods, even photos wherever one likes. Click here for more.

Hyundai
With its U.S. sales and brand image rising fast, South Korea's biggest automaker focused on fun with a two-door SUV concept, the HCD-10 Hellion. It's the 10th concept from the Hyundai California Design group in Irvine, hence HCD-10. The design was inspired by a hard shell backpack with molded-in "ribs" for strength, which appear as prominent U-shaped bulges around the doors. Click here for more.

Kia
Import-happy L.A. was a good place to introduce the 2007 Kia Rondo, which is pitched as a crossover SUV but is more a tall-body compact 4-dr wagon. On sale as you read this, Rondo offers LX and uplevel EX trim with a 162-hp 2.4-liter 4-cyl engine or a 182-hp 2.7 V6. Each teams with automatic transmission: a 4-speed for the 4-cyl, a 5-speed with manual shift gate for the V6. Front-wheel drive is mandatory. All models seat five as standard, but three-row seating for seven is optional, unusual for a small wagon. Click here for more.

Land Rover
Britain's 4x4 specialist trotted out its 2008 LR2, the redesigned replacement for the old Freelander compact SUV. Sales begin next spring, with pricing and equipment details to be released shortly beforehand. Offered only as a 4-door 5-passenger wagon, the British-built Land Rover LR2 shares a basic structure with the U.S.-built Ford Escape/Mercury Mariner. LR2 is the premium version, intended to rival Acura's new RDX and the BMW X3. Styling, powertrain, and features set it apart from its American cousins. Click here for more.

Mazda
Like Acura, Ford Motor Company's Japanese affiliate, Mazda, presented a concept preview of future production-model styling. Making its world premiere at L.A. 2007, the Nagare (nah-GAR-eh) gets its name from the Japanese word for "flow." Created at Mazda's U.S. design center in Irvine, California, this long, low non-running coupe embodies themes that reportedly show up in showrooms around 2008. Click here for more.

Nissan
Nissan had two big announcements for L.A.: the expected powered-up versions of the redesigned 2007 Sentra compact sedan and the first-ever Altima coupe. Slated to start sale next March, the new Sentra SE-R and SE-R Spec V share a 2.5-liter 4-cyl engine, sport suspension, racy styling add-ons, and specific interior trim. The SE-R delivers 177 hp through a mandatory continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT), while the Spec V puts down 200 hp through a 6-speed manual. Click here for more.

Saturn
Somewhat overshadowed by parent GM's hybrid talk was the redesigned 2008 Saturn Vue, which appeared at L.A. ahead of a spring 2007 showroom debut. Basically, it's a restyled and reengineered version of the existing Vue, with the same platform and similar dimensions, though plastic body panels give way to an all-steel skin. Vue still offers front-wheel and all-wheel drive with 4-cyl and V6 engines. The base 4-cyl, however, goes from a 2.2-liter to a 164-hp 2.4, the optional 3.5-liter Honda V6 changes to a 215-hp GM 3.5, and a 250-hp 3.6-liter V6 is added. Click here for more.

Suzuki
Suzuki spotlighted its new SX4 compact wagon with a youth-oriented L.A. Show concept called SXBox. Click here for more.

Volkswagen
We know that VW is readying a compact crossover SUV. The Tiguan concept, another world debut for L.A. 2007, is basically what we'll see as a 2008 model, minus the fancy tires and eye-popping color scheme. The name Tiguan ("TEE-gwan") mixes "tiger" and "iguana." It's another odd VW moniker, but was chosen from a list of five names submitted to a vote by readers of a leading German car magazine. The Tiguan itself follows the established crossover pattern. Click here for more.

Volvo
L.A. saw the North American coming-out of Volvo's new 2008 C30, which reaches showrooms next fall. It's supposed to liven up the Swedish brand's image, not to mention sales, which trended lower throughout 2006. The C30 is a sporty two-door hatchback based on Volvo's S40/V50 compact-car platform, with the same wheelbase and many of the same standard and optional features. Different styling from the windshield back trims 8.5 inches from length, a bit from height, and over 300 lb versus the S40 sedan. Click here for more.