Turbos, turbos everywhere

After what seems like several years where forced induction seemed to have fallen out of favour, it's back in a big way - but as much because of environmental pressures as it's there as a performance enhancer.

Sure, we're seeing superchargers in cars like the 550-hp Cadillac CTS-V, which are pushing down acceleration times and pushing up top speeds. But turbos and superchargers are also letting carmakers extract more performance out of much smaller engines.

Take, for example, Ford's new EcoBoost initiative, which involves direct injection and turbocharging. As fitted to the Explorer America concept, it lets a 2.0-litre four-cylinder produce as much power and torque as a 4.0-litre V6 - with fuel consumption that's 30 per cent better.

Turbos also feature on BMW's new X6; two of them, coupled to a 4.4-litre V8, produce more performance than the old 4.8 with lower consumption.

Expect even more turbos - and more innovative installations - in the years to come.

Horsepower gets a standing ovation

Every year, on the eve of the first press day at Detroit, General Motors hosts an event called GM Style - sort of a combination concert/fashion show/sneak preview of some of the cars it'll be showing the world's media over the next couple of days.

This year's show featured performances from Mary J. Blige, Maroon 5 and local boy Kid Rock - and some pretty hot cars, including an E85 ethanol powered hot rod, a single-seat Pontiac Solstice club racer and a tuner version of the new Saturn Astra.

The applause for it all was respectful, but the only car that got the crowd on its feet was the new Corvette ZR1, the 620-hp, 200-mph supercharged uber-Vette. Driven onstage by Jeff Gordon to the strains of Kid Rock ("We don't buy s**t here, we build it," he shouted), the ZR1 got a standing ovation.

None louder than from me, though I wonder how much longer the horsepower and top speed wars can continue given the fuel-economy regulations coming down the U.S. pipeline.

The ZR1 will be the first Corvette subject to the gas-guzzler tax; it may well be the last.

Hoping for *some* surprises

You can, at least in part, blame the Internet for the fact that what you read about the Detroit show here - as well as in the Saturday section - doesn't contain many surprises anymore. In the days before Web media were as widely-read as they now are, we'd go to the show, attend all the press conferences and walk away with a lot to talk about, as well as a lot to publish on the following Saturday.

But the immediacy of the Web has meant that, for many manufacturers, it's easy to get lost in the glut of news stories posted each day. With over 100 debuts scheduled for this year's show, they're constantly looking for ways to get the word out sooner to separate themselves a bit from the herd.

Which is why we've already been able to tell you about some of the most exciting cars from a car show that has yet to happen. We've already covered, for instance, the awesome new Corvette ZR-1; Cadillac has released shots and preliminary details of the new CTS-V; there are leaked images of the Audi TT-S and other performance cars online as well.

Here's to hoping that the manufacturers still have at least a little something left up their collective sleeve lest we fall fast asleep during all those conferences.