2014 Detroit motor show review The 2014 BMW M3 (below) and M4 made their official debut before going on sale in the UK in June, with prices from £56,175 for the M3 saloon and £56,635 for the M4 Coupé. BMW introduced the 4-Series name for the coupé version of the 3-Series and these two are all but identical under the skin. The new 3.0-litre, six-cylinder turbocharged engine develops 425bhp - which is 11bhp more than the outgoing M3"s naturally aspirated, 4.0-litre V8. Bodywork changes over standard 3 and 4-Series models include wider wings and bespoke wheels, door mirrors, bumpers and sills. There's also a host of aerodynamic improvements. Inside, there are upgraded materials, M badges and sports seats that have a single-piece back panel. Performance and fuel consumption are identical, with 0-62mph in 4.3sec (manual) and 4.1sec (twin-clutch automatic transmission), 32.1mpg Combined and 204g/km of CO2. The new M cars could be upstaged by the 2-Series Coupé, however. The all-new model will replace the outgoing 1-Series Coupé when it goes on sale in March, priced from £25,040 The Ford F-series pickup was the best-selling vehicle in the US during 2012, so the all-new F-150 revealed at the Detroit motor show today is one of the most important cars at the event. With a continuous production history over the last 66 years, the F-series is one of the best selling vehicles of all time. It was the best-selling vehicle in the US for 17 years and if you parked last year's sales of the truck end to end they'd stretch right across America. The rear-wheel-drive GT4 Stinger sports car was created at the Korean company's Californian design studio. It's the same length as a Kia Cee'd hatchback, but it's substantially lower and wider, with a shorter wheelbase. At the front there's the latest interpretation of Kia's corporate grille, which has a surround that glows white. It is flanked by vertical LED headlamps, while the clamshell bonnet has chrome accents. The cabin has a minimalist look, with rubber floor mats, sparse instrumentation and fabric door pulls. Power comes from a front-mounted, 2.0-litre direct-injection petrol engine that develops 311bhp. Although there are no plans for a production version, its maker says that it "provides a possible and highly provocative glimpse into Kia's future." The Lexus RC-F, a new high-performance coupé, also made its official debut at Detroit. It is a heavily modified version of the RC coupé that was unveiled at the 2013 Tokyo show. Substantial bodywork changes include wider front and rear wings, a higher bonnet, gaping front air intakes and dramatic air outlets behind the front wheels. A production version of the RC-F is likely in 2015 and is expected to have a similar price to the BMW M4, which costs £56,635. Porsche The new Porsche 911 Targa was unveiled at the show. This 991-generation 911 uses a combination of fabric-covered magnesium roof panels and a glass rear window (unlike 993, 996 and 997-generation Targas, which had a roof made entirely from glass). At the touch of a button, the rear window tilts to allow the fabric roof to fold into a Z-shape and stow behind the rear seats. The wraparound glass then closes to recreate a classic Porsche 911 Targa look. The whole process is said to take 19sec. Aside from the roof, the model is identical to the current 911 Carrera 4 Cabriolet, including 3.4 and 3.8-litre flat-six petrol engines, with a seven-speed manual or double-clutch PDK gearbox. The Targa 4S costs £96,316 and manages the benchmark sprint in 4.4sec and reaches 184mph. Toyota It's hard to get excited by the Volkswagen Dune concept, a Beetle parts-bin special built "in tribute to the legendary 'dooone" buggies of the Sixties." Riding two inches higher, with stretched wheel arches covering large, wide wheels, this 210bhp 2.0-litre Beetle looked almost identical to a standard car with the exception of two holes cut in the rear spoiler to accommodate a couple of pairs of skis. They're called dune buggies, not snow buggies. The reason for using the original Volkswagen Beetle chassis as a base for a dune buggy was that the rear-engine/rear-drive configuration gave plenty of traction in the sand. This point appears to have been almost entirely lost on the designers of this modern front-wheel-drive show car, but the colour, a bronze/gold called "Arizona," is lovely. Now this Volvo was interesting. The second of three concepts which introduce features and technology from the forthcoming XC90 replacement, this XC Coupé from the pen of Thomas Ingenlath, Volvo's senior vice president of design (formerly of VW where he designed the XL-1), had a lightness of line and charm which completely escaped the equivalent Audi concept across the show hall. Much better in fact than the first in this series, a clunky big coupé concept, which appeared at the Frankfurt motor show last autumn. Saab's 2001 9x concept sprung to mind (which was designed by Anthony Lo and Michael Mauer), as well as the 1999 Chevrolet Nomad concept and last autumn's Subaru Cross Sport concept based on the BRZ coupé. The interior buck was displayed and there were strong indications that it will be the basis for the XC90"s cabin. If so there will be just five buttons on the entire vehicle, which raises some interesting questions about the design of the software to allow you to quickly change the radio channel or lower the temperature, not to mention the task of convincing customers that an effectively buttonless luxury car is any sort of luxury at all. We're still not entirely convinced by Volvo's scaleable platform architecture, which underpins the XC90 and all future Volvo models, and in particular the slightly raucous common-block four cylinder petrol and diesel engines. But if the company can build a car as good looking as this, it is surely on the right road. The new XC90 debuts at the Paris motor show this autumn, but doesn't go on sale until 2015. The current model goes out of production in May, so there will be fair bit of time where Volvo has to convince us of the merits of its new philosophy. The third and final concept in this series will appear at the Geneva motor show in March.