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Although the new Esprit will be a fitting halo car for Lotus, the revived Elan is arguably the most important product Lotus will bring to market in 2013. The Elan has far greater appeal, and a much lower price, than the Esprit and was designed to be the ultimate daily driver as well as a delight on the track.

The final slot in the revised Lotus portfolio is reserved for a four-door sports car named Eterne. There is a tenuous historical precedent for a four-door Lotus. During General Motors' ownership of Lotus, a Vauxhall Carlton sedan was sent to Lotus for a fairly intense transformation that transformed it from a stale sedan into a veritable four-door sports car. Lotus badging and wider wheel arches hinted at the Cartlton's incredible 176-mph top speed, which was made possible by a twin-turbo I-6 engine and six-speed ZF manual transmission borrowed from the (Lotus-engineered) Chevrolet Corvette ZR-1.

Is it a car? Is it a van? Is it an SUV? According to Nissan, its Townpod concept, which debuted this morning at the 2010 Paris Motor Show, is a little of everything.

To state the obvious, one of the reasons the Paris auto show is unique is because the French automakers are on their home turf. We see Renault, Citroen, and Peugeot at the Geneva show each year, but their most exciting cars always debut in Paris. DeZir is the latest Renault EV concept and it looks pretty cool.

At first glance, the Audi e-tron Spyder unveiled in Paris might appear to be just a topless version of the e-tron Coupe shown in Detroit. The most significant difference concerns the drivetrain. Whereas the e-tron Coupe was a pure EV, with an electric motor driving the rear wheels, this latest e-tron concept is a plug-in hybrid that sends power to all four corners in a system that Audi calls e-quattro.

Two automakers have promised electric scooter concepts for the 2010 Paris Motor Show, but only Smart has shown the finished project -- the Escooter -- ahead of its official debut.