Los Angeles motor show - Introduction

California may be only one of 50 states in America, but it boasts the world's seventh largest economy.

It is also home to design studios from most of the world's major car-manufacturing groups, and is one of the leading markets for luxury cars.

So, what happens in California tends to reverberate around the world, and the message coming across from this year's Los Angeles Auto Show which opened yesterday is that smaller, lighter, greener cars are the thing of the immediate future.

The Hollywood fashionistas jumped on the bandwagon a while ago by embracing the petrol-electric hybrid Toyota Prius, but with gas (petrol) prices at $3.50 (£1.75) a gallon in places, and oil on the verge of hitting $100 (£50) a barrel, the average American is also starting to think that small is beautiful, too.

Here's our on-the-spot review of the most important stories from the LA Show.