Toyota Prius hybrid

Fans of the original Charger are furious about the new car's excessive number of doors, but its designer Mark Hall says: 'The coupé market simply isn't as strong as it was in the late 1960s, so we needed to give it the expression of a coupé with a four-door body.' Hall is particularly fond of a 'kick-up' on the rear door, in homage to the swooping bodywork of previous Chargers. A new Daytona R/T is also being sold with stripes, graphics and a spoiler to echo the original hot models.

Hot SRT8 versions are also offered for the 300C and Dodge Magnum, and have been received enthusiastically by the buying public. Remarkably, given the appalling reviews, the new 'Dukes of Hazzard' movie has also given the Charger a boost. Traffic to its page on Edmunds.com shot up 25 per cent the weekend of its launch while hits on the rest of the site fell by 4 per cent.

wild

Chrysler demonstrated its intention to continue using the power and wild design at the 2005 Detroit Show. One of the stars of the show was the Jeep Hurricane, which had not one but two Hemis - one in each end.

Numerous new patents were needed to build this monstrous off-roader, which can climb just about anything and spin on its own axis. Another clever trick is that the rotational direction of each prop shaft applies a downward force to each wheel. The engines together deliver a total of 500kW/670 bhp and 1,003 N.m/740lb ft of torque, but the Hurricane can shut down banks of cylinders until it is pottering along on just four.

The Chrysler Crossfire, launched on the same stage the day before, is described as a Grand Tourer concept. Its designer Tom Tremont says: 'Its proportions are like a classic Aston Martin or Jaguar, there's nothing retro about it.' The concept sits on the Dodge Viper chassis and is powered by the 317 kW/425 bhp 6.1-litre SRT V8 engine.

The Viper also drew a crowd at the show because it was sporting a new hardtop, developed by American Specialty Cars to answer the demands of racing enthusiasts.

Its deadly rival from GM, the Corvette was also wearing a tin lid. The Z06 road car was developed in tandem with the C6-R Le Mans race car, and both use a 7.0-litre version of the so-called Small-Block Chevy V8 delivering 374 kW/500 bhp. This means a 0-60 mph time of around 4 seconds and a top speed of more than 306 km/h/190 mph for the roadgoing car.

GM has also pepped up its Pontiac GTO, to deliver 298 kW/400bhp at 5200 r/min and 536 Nm/395lb ft at 4,000 r/min - the previous model delivered a feeble 261 kW/350 bhp.

Even Cadillac, has been hitting back with increased muscle. The CTS-v squares up against the 300C SRT8 with 298 kW/400bhp at 6,000 r/min and 536 N.m/395lb ft at 4,800 r/min. The monster STS-v has the BMW M5 in its sights, and its supercharged Northstar V8 offers the highest horsepower rating of any Cadillac to date: 328 kW/440 bhp at 6,400 r/min. Plus, it delivers 583 N.m/430lb ft at 3,600 r/min.

America may downsize one day, but for now the V8 remains its weapon of choice against all-comers.