Visitors look at Volkswagen cars at the 2015 IAA Frankfurt Auto Show on September 21, 2015 in Frankfurt, Germany. Volkswagen CEO Martin Winterkorn apologized yesterday to consumers following allegations by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that the company had installed software into its diesel cars sold in the USA that manipulated emissions results. Volkswagen share prices plummeted by over 20% on the Frankfurt stock exchange and the company faces a recall of at least 470,000 cars and up to USD 18 billion in fines.

A surprising star of the Frankfurt auto show highlights all the cool cars America never gets


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The American automotive scene is awesome. What other country would think to not only create road legal muscle cars that are inching closer and closer to the 1,000 horsepower mark, but to then throw those engines into SUVs? Only in America could Ford decide to sell a road version of a trophy truck. Well, I guess Australia, too. But they are basically just Southern Hemisphere America when it comes to cars.

For all of America's greatness though, it does miss out on some awesome offerings from those manufacturers based across an ocean from the land of the free. The Frankfurt auto show is just another reminder that we don't get import brands' best.

Yes, most of the show, like every other auto show, is full of pie-in-the-sky mobility concepts and dominated by bland crossovers. However, one surprise star of the show that had everyone talking is neither of those as it's a smaller car with retro-futuristic styling that is set to go into production by 2019. And, along with the various performance wagons that European companies like to keep off of American shores, this car will likely never see the US of A.

The Honda Urban EV concept is both unassuming and bold at the same time. The look of it hearkens back to the first gen Civic that created Honda's foothold in America to begin with. The fully electric small hatchback is not production ready yet, but has some awesome features we would love to see make it into the final version. Front and rear bench seats are a cool touch, as is the panoramic screen covering the dash along with the screens on the doors that take the place of side mirrors. Suicide doors will always be awesome and could help entering and exiting the probably smaller-than-it-looks hatchback.

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The coolest feature, however, can be seen in the grill and rear of the car. Next to the illuminated Honda emblem on the front and rear is a display that can presumably say anything you want. Surely, this would only be used for nice messages to friendly motorists and never for cursing out every idiot you see on the road. Regardless of how it is used, we want it.

We're not getting our hopes up though. While Honda didn't say it would not come to America, just look at that thing. Small, efficient, practical... electric. These are not the kind of things that do well in the American market. And it's too bad, this would be an awesome weekday-use compliment to a 700+ horsepower weekend muscle car.

Related: The Mercedes-AMG Project One hypercar is simply flabbergasting; and expensive

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