It’s not big, it’s vast – the Frankfurt Motor Show is a once-every-two-years chance for Germany’s car makers to show off writes Ian Donaldson.

And boy, do they flex their corporate muscle. Take Volkswagen; for days before the show opened last week around 1,000 people had been building the company’s stand. Shaped like a cloud and big enough to display 50 vehicles, it is lit by 2,100 lamps and needs 50 miles of cable to connect them.

Not enough for Audi, though, which built a temporary show hall, big enough for its latest cars to roar round on a banked indoor track and rumoured to cost 10 million euros.

So it’s good to see, if you’re rooting for the UK (which hasn’t had a proper motor show for years) that not all the show stoppers were designed on computers in a German car plant. One came from Coventry, in the shape of the Jaguar C-X16 prototype.

• See more cars from Frankfurt in our gallery to your right

Another came from the other branch of what we’ll get used to calling JLR – for Jaguar Land Rover. For one of Frankfurt’s genuine surprises was a glimpse into the future (well, 2015) when Land Rover is due to introduce a new version of the seemingly immortal Defender.

But the Jag first. Pretty enough to take your breath, this is the car that’s going to morph into the E-Type for the 21st century. The shortest Jaguar since the 1954 XK 120, it’s powered by a supercharged V6 petrol engine and boosted by an on-demand electric motor for a top speed of 186mph.

It’s expected to cost from around £50,000 when sales start in 18 months time, by which time an obvious competitor will have already become a modestly common sight.

That car – the new Porsche 911 – is another Frankfurt star. Only the third all-new 911 (it made its debut at Frankfurt in 1963) the new model continues the looks of old (mad not to) but is bigger and, with a new 3.4 litre, 350 horsepower engine for the entry level, faster and more economical.

Put German (Porsche) engineering and British design together and you have the new Hemera, from a London-based company – Eterniti Motors.

Called the world’s first “super SUV”, the car is based on a Porsche Cayenne with blinged-up bodywork. It won’t be cheap (from around £150,000); features include twin electric rear seats, iPads and a drinks chiller. Production is promised for 2012.

One show car not scheduled for production is the Kia GT, although its vaguely Aston Martin-like lines and sheer in-your-face style signify a company oozing confidence. More sensible, but with style to spare, is the Kia Optima. It’s the size of a BMW 5 Series and could shake up the executive car market when it arrives on our shores next year.

And back to Land Rover, which showed a closed and open version of its new Defender thinking. The first we’d seen already, the topless version of the DC100 was as unexpected as it was startlingly effective, with cut-down windscreen and a sonar system like a submarine’s to tell you how deep is the river you’re about to ford. It will doubtless be toned down before we can buy one, but let’s hope not by too much.

Frankfurt is Europe’s biggest car show and probably the most important and yes, there were plenty of daft looking designs you know will never see the light of a production line. More interesting were the rash of new cars you WILL be able to see at the local showroom soon.

Mercedes B-Class: Due here in March, it’s lower than today’s car yet roomier inside, one of the most aerodynamic shapes in the world and comes with a new range of engines promising much better economy. The seats are nearer the ground than the old car (easier to get in and out of, says Mercedes), while every car will have a radar based anti-collision system that warns of a potential shunt ahead.

Honda Civic: A smoothed-off version of the mould-breaking current and Swindon-built car, the new Civic is going
to major on an improved ride and better handling. It will go on sale at the start of next year with 1.4 and 1.8-litre
petrol engines and a 2.2-litre diesel. Prices will start around £16,000. The 2.2-litre diesel will bring emissions down to 110g/km, and a 1.6-litre diesel will be added later.

Volkswagen up!: Well, it’s the up! (no capitals and an exclamation mark) and it’s a big car hiding in a small car’s bodyshell. The up! is a front-wheel-drive city car powered by a new generation of 1.0-litre three-cylinder petrol
engines with emissions below 100g/km and fuel consumption of more than 60mpg with stop-start. It will go on sale in the UK next March from around £8,000. Its new underbody structures and engines have been developed so they can be expanded for the next-generation VW Polo, and there will be Seat and Skoda versions.

Skoda Misson L: The gap between the little Fabia and much bigger Octavia will be plugged when the Mission L arrives here next year, after going on sale in India first, later in 2011. It will look a lot like the Frankfurt “concept car” which enhances Skoda’s reputation for simply styled, unshowy cars that deliver the goods at sensible prices.

Mazda CX-5: The company’s new CX-5 is an SUV with a mission - to premiere Mazda’s Skyactiv technology which signifies a thorough look at the way a conventional petrol engine works, to the extent that one model of CX-5 will hit 63mpg in the official tests, despite being a biggish and quite heavy car. A 2.2 diesel version is expected to be the biggest seller. Prices should start around £23,000.