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Performance and power are increasingly being joined by purity on the world car stage and Geneva further emphasised that fact — an increasingly vital component of any carmaker's hi-tech boast these days. Some have been chasing the eco or green mantle for a while, while the rest are mostly all responding now in some way or another...

Green car veterans Toyota and Honda certainly lead the way as their ranges become ever-increasingly eco-friendly on the whole, and both again headlined with new, better hybrid technology. It will be a while before a hybrid steals a show, but these guys are getting there a step at a time...

Toyota's Hybrid X concept joined its sporty Detroit Celica sibling in showing the way ahead for Toyota's third (or is that sixth?) generation Prius, Lexus showed off its luxo-hybrids and Honda's Light Sports Hybrid joined its many cleaner cousins on its stand. Stars of the show perhaps not, but certainly the most important car tech for the future...

Several other hybrids were on show too, including the likes of a Saab, Proton and Peugeot/Citroen's diesel hybrid tech, but a raft of cleaner fossil fuel burning engines was good to witness. Among this are more efficient engines like direct injection and clean burn mills, while several manufacturers launched low emissions 'blue tech' diesel engines.

Principal among these are Mercedes and VW, whose urea (cow's pee, believe it or not) combustion assistance technology makes for dramatically reduced carbon emissions levels and is making its way into an increasingly diverse number of models from city cars to trucks. Don't laugh, you too will be topping up your car's cow pee tank soon!

BMW also introduced its Effficient Dynamics programme through a lean burning 120d and 530d before promptly delivering what many believe to be the star of the show right at the end of the day — you guessed it, a thoroughbred gas-guzzling sports car!

No, power and performance are still very much king and BMW's latest 300kW 4.0-litre V8 M3 certainly stole the show. The chunky coupe was left under cover in a corner all day to be driven out to great applause by BMW world Touring Car champ Andy Prilaux to present Munich's latest weapon in the vital mid-exec power car war.

Other notable newcomers included Maserati's new Granturismo coupe, Opel's GTC Concept, the Audi A5 and S5, Fiat Bravo, Mazda2, Ford Mondeo and Renault Clio.

Citroen's C4 Picasso and C Crosser SUV, its sister Peugeot 4007 and 207cc, the Toyota Auris, Cadillac's CTS, the VW Golf Variant, Volvo's V70, XC70 and XC60 concept, Jaguar XJ facelift, Kia ExCeed and Hyundai i30 all made their bows.

China's Brilliance showed a new coupe, Tata from India unveiled a cool small car and bakkie and several wacky designers and tuners provided an oddball variety.

On the luxury and sports front, Rolls Royce previewed the new Corniche Converible, Bentley its Brooklands Coupe and Aston Martin Vantage Roadster. Lamborghini had the superlight Gallardo Superleggera there, Ferrari its 60th birthday 599, Spyker showed its Zagato and Lotus the Eleven 2, while dirtbike maker KTM made its four-wheel debut with its sporty two seater. The next Lotus 7?

Among the small marques the stand out was the sports racing-like Apollo and of course, most real 2007 racers were on show too. Ferrari's all-red F1 machine, Spyker's toned down orange one, Honda's earth car and the multicoloured Renault stood out, Peugeot's Le Mans challenger and world rally rivals Citroen, Ford, Subaru and Suzuki were there among Dakar, touring and saloon cars of all shapes.

But the big message from Geneva was green, although its stars were all go. Come back later today for motoring.iafrica.com's best and worst from Geneva.

By the way, we were the only South African press there for the first day...