Buick's latest mid-size luxury sedan - the 2010 La Crosse unveiled at the 2009 Detroit Auto Show - goes on sale in summer 2009 in the US with the Lexus ES and Nissan Maxima firmly in its sights. In the equally important Chinese market it will take on the Nissan Teana and the more upscale Chinese version of the Toyota Camry.

Changes from Buick's 2008 Invicta concept are refreshingly small. According to exterior design duo Justin Thompson and Richard Duff the production car's roofline has been raised by 24mm, the width narrowed by 13mm and the wheelbase shortened by 70mm to accommodate a V6 engine. The rear bumper is shorter and more upright, 20-inch polished aluminum wheels make way for 19-inch chrome ones and the full-length glass roof has been replaced with metal. The LED front lamps and flush door handles of the concept also unsurprisingly do not make the cut.

However, the essence of the concept - designed side by side with the production car - remains, including the unusual and striking side character line that dips down on the rear door before kicking back up over the rear wheelarch.

The genuinely upscale interior with its cocooning wraparound dash is even more similar to the Invicta concept's - the only major differences being in the choices of material used. Susan Docherty, Buick-Pontiac-GMC vice president, said of the car: "It builds on the success of the Enclave as the next step in Buick's revitalization. And, as with Enclave, our goal is to attract a whole new buyer."

Judging by the quality of the car on display it could well do just that.

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Designed at BMW's Munich studio by Julianne Blasi (exterior) and Nadja Arnaout (interior), the second-generation Z4 roadster marks another sizeable step away from the company's influential flame-surfacing form language towards one that revolves around sleekness and simplicity.

Blasi says a lot of effort was put into minimizing the height of the rear deck, which for the first time has to accommodate a two-piece folding aluminum roof. It's paid off; the overall proportions of this latest version are much more pleasing to the eye than its predecessor's, whose exaggerated frontal mass and truncated rear always seemed out of balance.

The so-called 'shark nose' invokes the CS concept from the 2007 Shanghai Auto Show (and more recently the 7-Series), featuring a double kidney grille that sits higher up, in line with the top of the headlamps, creating a more dynamic down-the-road graphic. The Z4's shut lines show real deftness of touch too, in particular the way that the LED rear lamps follow the arc of the rear wheelarches. As on the old car, the two sets of arches are joined by a characteristically strong shoulder line.

The interior design of the 2009 Z4 focuses on ergonomics, perceived quality and storage space. The U-shaped IP is angled eight degrees towards the driver, and is distinguished by the four rings - described as 'iconic' by Arnaout, who first explored this configuration on the CS concept - that control the car's HVAC system. iDrive makes its debut in this 2009 Z4 range, as does a pop-up navigation screen in the center of the dash. The latter is a first for BMW, and was designed to give the cockpit a "very clean look and feel" when parked on the street, says Arnaout.

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Ford used NAIAS to introduce its 2010 Taurus, a full-size car (D-Segment) aimed at the North American market. During its glory days in the '80s and early '90s, the Taurus nameplate was used on a midsize family car, but now it will become a flagship for the Ford brand. Thus, the design team had to "elevate the game" by creating a car with dramatic proportions, powerful lines and yet a certain sophistication and gracefulness. Vice President of Design, Peter Horbury, says that this gracefulness comes from the line that starts off at the front wheel and then falls downwards toward the rear, which was very much part of the American cars of the ‘60s and ‘70s.

Given the vehicle's dual purpose, it's no surprise that the surface treatment could never be called clean or uncluttered. The front end, while carrying over the three-bar theme from the grille, is inspired by the recent work of Martin Smith's European division, particularly in the treatment of the trapezoidal lower grille. In its shape, the rear of the Taurus borrows a lot from the Interceptor concept of 2007. While this car shares its underpinnings with the Lincoln MKS, the design team chose to implement a new roof design that would give the car a lower stance - a courageous but costly decision.

Horbury calls the interior treatment "driver centric", because "when the driver is on his own, he will feel that this is his personal car". Attention has been paid to craftsmanship, and designers "sculptured the trims to convey the message of luxury". The latter is particularly true of the steering wheel, with its palm swells and F1-type shifters.

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