The Tokyo Motor Show was a subdued affair this year compared to the glittering gallery of automotive excess it was in past years. But it still offered eye candy and intriguing ideas. Here are a few standouts.

FRANKFURT -- Wandering around the Frankfurt auto show, you might think the electric era of the automobile is at hand.
Virtually every automaker is displaying an electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid.
But behind the enthusiasm for green vehicles lies a sharp split in executives' views of the potential of EVs. Some say EVs will be high-volume second cars for busy families. Others say they will be pricey niche players with limited utility.
On one side are conservatives such as Ulrich Hackenberg, Volkswagen AG management board member for

SHANGHAI -- Ford Motor Co. is counting on the launch of the redesigned Fiesta to round out its lineup and boost sales in China, where Ford is playing catch-up.
Ford sold 160,000 cars in China last year, down 6.5 percent in a market that grew 6.9 percent overall.
This year Ford wants to exceed the industry’s overall growth. The government in Beijing is targeting a 10 percent rise in vehicle sales.
The Fiesta, which comes to the United States in 2010 and was Europe’s best-selling model in March, will be key to the expansion.
The

Here is a look at some world debuts this month at the New York International Auto Show.

GENEVA — At first glance it looked like any other Geneva auto show — the industry's annual feel-good festival and luxury-car cabaret.
Rolls-Royce makes its big splashes here and did so again with the 200EX. Aston Martin revived the long-dormant Lagonda brand, and Infiniti uncorked a curvaceous luxury coupe.
Yet hardly a conversation on the floor of the Palexpo last week strayed from the global sales collapse.
Beneath the veneer, auto executives were panicking. Talk centered on grand old companies being spun off, sold or

LOS ANGELES — Kia will replace its best-selling Spectra this summer with the Forte, a slightly bigger and more powerful sedan.
A coupe version of the Forte — Kia's first coupe — will follow in the fall. No hatchback version will be offered in the United States to replace the Spectra hatchback.
The U.S. version of the Forte has not been priced.
The Forte, which debuted in South Korea in August, is 178.3 inches long and 69.9 inches wide, 1.1 inches longer and 1.6 inches wider than the 2009 Spectra. The Forte sits on

DETROIT — A plan to expand and renovate Detroit's Cobo Center, home of the Detroit auto show, was expected to move forward after the Detroit City Council decided not to block the plan.
A previous state plan to upgrade the aging center was scuttled by the council this year. A second legislative deal would extend a metropolitan hotel and liquor tax to pay for the $288 million expansion.
Show organizers have said they would move the show if the center were not upgraded.

ROUEN, France -- PSA/Peugeot-Citroen could delay the introduction of plug-in diesel-electric hybrid cars as it seeks to cut costs during the economic downturn.
Ladimir Prince, manager of PSA's hybrid innovations unit, said the carmaker's plug-in hybrid project "could be delayed by a year or two."
But Prince said the economic crisis will not slow PSA's plans to launch diesel-electric hybrid cars.
Prince said PSA is still working toward launching a diesel-hybrid powertrain in 2011 in the Peugeot 3008 crossover.
He said PSA