If you’ve never been to a car show before, and then you decide to start with the grand-daddy of them all–the Detroit auto show–it’s bound to be a little blinding, deafening, chaotic–and fun.

Packed with (mostly) male journalists, mostly in suits, plus industry execs, marketing pros and pretty women wearing big smiles, the sprawling Cobo Centre quickly begins to feel like an odd little city (there’s even an “Electric Avenue”) where there are no houses, only cars, and trucks, and giant screens. Six thousand journalists, parched and sweating under the showroom lights, dash from press conference/car reveal to press conference/car reveal (aside from those who are tucked into the swank cafe hosted by Mercedes-Benz, sipping lattes and chewing steak–on the house).

Among all the headlines-in-the-making, the auto show produces some clear winners, losers and oddities. Here’s a wholly biased recap of 12 hours in Detroit, Motor City. (All photographs by Maclean’s associate photo editor Jessica Darmanin.)

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