KEY POINTS:
The oddest-looking and most bizarrely named cars at the recent Detroit Auto Show were three tiny, toy-like concepts by Chinese designer Li Guangming. The vehicles - named Tang Hua Book of Songs, Piece of Cloud and Detroit Fish - are an attempt to create a Chinese design language for cars, says Li.
"There will be no Chinese national cars of significance if the Chinese spirit is absent from their design." Li's dream is to create an iconic car for China comparable to the Ford Model T in early 20th-century America, or the VW Beetle in post-war Germany.
First impressions suggest he's a way off the iconic and functional design that defined the Ford and VW. But at least they're clean - the three concepts are electric vehicles. Li says China is exploring alternative energy sources.
"If China and India burned gas at the same rate as the US, they would consume four times the fuel reserves of the entire planet. The future must point to the EV field - that's one of the reasons I'm exhibiting here at Detroit."
