Detroit Confidential

America's biggest motor show always kick-starts the automotive year with flashy new products and wild concepts, and although this week's 2018 installment wasn't as big as previous events, this year's Detroit motor show was no different.

As the snow petered down outside and the temperature in Motor City dropped to -20 degrees centigrade, inside the North American International Auto Show's Cobo Centre things got decidedly hot and heavy.

Lexus revealed the striking LF-1 Limitless concept, a big autonomous SUV with more luxury than a seven-star hotel room. In conversation with Kevin Hunter, the president of the CALTY Design Research centre in California (where the concept was designed), motoring.com.au learned that -- like most Lexus concept cars -- this lavish machine is not just a flight of fancy.

"We purposely designed it so that if there was an interest in building it and the reactions were good, you could move smoothly into production," said Hunter.

"There's nothing really on that car that isn't possible for production," he told motoring.com.au.

But wait, there's more. Jeff Bracken, Lexus North America's general manager, told media there are more concepts to come soon.

"In 2018 Lexus will showcase 17 new concepts, special-editions and all-new models," he said, adding that by "around 2025" every Lexus model around the world will be offered as a dedicated electrified model, or have an electrified option.

Ford used Detroit to announce the Mach 1 to the world, a high-performance electric SUV that will take on the Tesla Model X and other silent city stalkers. With enough grunt to bloody the noses of sports cars but with enough pragmatism to appeal to family buyers, it's coming in 2020.

Ford also showed off the striking 2019 Mustang Bullitt alongside the ultra-rare 1968 Ford Mustang GT from the movie Bullitt. The latter is expected to sell at auction for around $5million. Giddy-up!

Ford also teased the next GT500 Shelby Mustang. This fire-cracker will pack a 520kW or 700hp-plus V8 when it goes on sale in 2019.

The big reveal for Nissan was the Xmotion concept, a bold six-seat SUV that previews the brand's new design DNA, which will appear on the next-generation X-TRAIL and other upcoming SUVs.

Alfonso Albaisa, Nissan's global design chief, told motoring.com.au that older Nissan vehicles will "incorporate" this new design DNA and that the Xmotion "represents the next cars that are coming".

Quizzed on whether this was a preview of the next X-TRAIL, which is badged the Rogue in the USA, he said: "I can't comment yes or no on the specific question but definitely this car captures some of the new DNA."

Albaisa declared that SUVs are the sports cars of today but said they won't kill the classic Nissan coupes, like the 370Z.

"I have been accused of being human sometimes," he laughed. "I love the Z, I love the GT-R, I love these cars but I can't mention any more details than that. I love the Z, our head of product planning Mr Klein loves the car, so you can assume that at least two people don’t want to kill it!"

If you thought that big American pick-up trucks had no place in Australia, think again. Already there are conversion companies selling the RAM 2500 and 3500 for upwards of $140,000 in Australia. But those prices could be halved if the snazzy new 2019 RAM 1500 gets the green-light for right-hand factory manufacture.

"We're working very, very closely with our Australian colleagues to look to see if it's viable for us to do that," global RAM boss Mike Manley told us. "It's something we continue to look at."

German luxury car company BMW showed the sporty BMW X2 in Detroit and like its swoopy-coupe SUV siblings, the X4 and X6, a go-fast M version is currently under consideration.

After the X2 was revealed in Detroit, we made a bee-line for Bernhard Kuhnt, BMW North America CEO, and told us that "Principally, M Performance and true M performance are very big here and globally, but we have not confirmed yet what we are doing with the X2."

"It's not yet decided. But you know we're reviewing all segments, as M demand is rising."

The all-new Volkswagen Jetta made its global debut within the Cobo Centre in downtown Detroit and looked pretty spiffy. That's the good news. The bad news is the Jetta's been axed in Australia.

Even so, there was plenty to discuss from the German car giant's press conference, including Volkswagen CEO Herbert Diess's continued apologies over the dieselgate scandal.

"Recently, and I'm sorry to say, we've disappointed many people. And not just here in America. We must and we will make up for that, we are working hard on it," he insisted.

Volkswagen Australia is still fighting several class actions in Australian courts but despite the disgrace of its emissions cheating, Volkswagen's global sales are booming.

"The year 2017 showed we are on the right track. That is why I'm particularly pleased to announce we finished 2017 with the best performance ever in the history of Volkswagen. We delivered 6.23 million vehicles. That is an increase of 4.2 per cent," said Diess.

After the presentation we wanted to know if Volkswagen would reward itself with something ultra-cool after the record-breaking global sales, like Toyota is doing with the Supra. But Diess said it had no plans to build a super sports car.

"We are a volume brand. We have to look for scale and we always will have sporty models like the Golf GTI, but it's not our mission [to make a Supra rival]. We don't look at the super sports car," he told motoring.com.au.

Toyota showed off its new Avalon sedan… but don't get too excited because the Lexus-inspired luxo-barge is only going to be sold in the USA. Interestingly, it's the first Toyota ever made that has native support for Apple CarPlay, after Toyota's spat with Apple seems to have been quelled.

Toyota Australia says iPhone connectivity via CarPlay is only for "Toyotas sold in North American," but that it is considering its options for Aussie models.

Last but not least was another question for CALTY president Kevin Hunter, who oversees the designs of many new Toyota and Lexus vehicles.

Never mind that he's "super excited" about the upcoming Toyota Supra, which is expected to lob in March at the 2018 Geneva motor show. When asked what he would want to work on -- his dream car -- he responded: "I would love to work on a LandCruiser ... it would be fun," he said.

"We did the FJ Cruiser at our studio in Newport Beach but I'm from Michigan originally, so I've got a bit of pick-up truck in my blood. I like that stuff. I would love to someday work on a LandCruiser."

Right there and then, we forgot about the Avalon and even the LF-1 Limitless, and developed a little man-crush on the bloke.