Enviromental issues may have been to the fore at Detroit – but there was no shortage of high-performance coupe action on the show floor during media previews this week.

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And in some cases, manufacturers had managed to combine alternative powertrains with exciting-looking sports cars. Even Ferrari has gone green, showing a biofuel-capable version of its F430 Spider model.


Most notable was Fisker Automotive’s Karma plug-in hybrid sports car, a vehicle that’s bound to debunk the vision of hybrids as dull-but-worthy commuter boxes.


The $US80,000 Karma is capable of a 0-60mph time of just 5.8 seconds and a top speed of 125mph. But, according to CEO and designer Henrik Fisker, it is ‘greener’ than a Toyota Prius.


Fisker, who designed the BMW Z8 and Aston Martin DB9, said the car was “an environmentally friendly car without compromise” that would make ‘green’ seem sexy.

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More conventional, but certainly sexy is the Lexus LF-A Roadster, a soft-top version of the coupe shown 12 months ago. With a 500bhp, front-mounted 5-litre V10 it’s nowhere near as green as the Fisker – but it would give Toyota’s luxury car division a genuine supercar flagship to reinforce its up-market credentials.


A less expensive, but no less important coupe is the Cadillac CTS Coupe, a surprise unveiling at the show. The angular-styled 3.6-litre V6-engined two-door might just be the car to kick-start Cadillac’s flagging European sales, giving the brand a genuine BMW M3/Audi S5 rival, though production is still a couple of years away.


Volkswagen calls its sleek, low-roof derivative of the Passat a Crossover Coupe, or CC. It bears the same relationship to the regular Passat as the Mercedes CLS does to the E-class. It’s a four-door coupe that carries a premium over the more conservative sedan.