Gallery: the strangeness of Shanghai

Every motor show worth its salt boasts a healthy array of weird stuff, and Shanghai is no exception. From Range Rover pick-ups to curious concept pods to something calling itself an M3 that really, really isn't, China's biggest motor show this year served up a glorious array of scratch-yer-head strangeness.

To be fair, not all the strangeness is home-grown. In fact, Shanghai's oddities hailed from all over the globe - and possibly beyond, in some cases. Fans of automotive diversity that we are, we risked the long-term health of our office camera to snap the very strangest that Shanghai had to offer.

We'll kick off with the amazing Eagle, a two-seat sports thing that strongly resembles a Porsche Cayman at the back, and even more strongly resembles Ferrari's F12 at the front. Whether there's one engine behind the driver and another in front, we couldn't say. What we can say is that we suspect Porsche might not be too impressed by the Eagle's familiar-looking badge on its nose.

Yowzer! It's Startech's Range Rover pick-up. The one designed to transport your falcon to, y'know, falconing events. We told you about it a couple of weeks back, and trust us: it's absolutely no less strange in the metal.

Double yowzer! It's some sort of military monster - we're guessing based on a Ford F150? - from the masters of subtlety at US Speciality Vehicles. Though seemingly once known as the Rhino GX, this beast seems to have been renamed the G PATTON. We assume the ‘G' stands for ‘General', not ‘GoodGodMyEyes'.

A lump of R8, a hint of that Lotus Esprit concept from a while back, a whole lot of melty. The Qiantu K50 Event! (yep, exclamation mark included) is a Chinese-made, all-electric sports car promising 400bhp and 0-62mph in five seconds. Doesn't look too bad, does it?

Chinese hen parties rejoice! The super-stretch Hummer limo is here. Good thing it's got those red-rim alloys. Otherwise it might have looked just too understated.

It's the mighty Lykan Hypersport, skyscraper-leaping star of the latest Fast and Furious film. Contains more angles than Britain in the first millennium. Yep, that's a history joke for you right there.

Chinese firm Pateo brought this silvery, swoopy, entirely implausible concept to Shanghai. We don't know what it's called. We're assuming the ‘Furniture'. Or the ‘Heater'.

It's the Vencer Sarthe, a V8 sports car from the Netherlands. With a 510bhp, Corvette-borrowed engine, Vencer reckons this beauty will hit 0-62mph in 3.8 seconds and a top speed of 202mph. On the Shanghai show stand, it achieved neither.

The M3 nameplate, as any self-respecting BMW fan knows, has a long and storied history. This spacious little number is entirely worthy of the badge, we feel.

Fresh from ‘Murica, it's Detroit Electric's SP.01: a zero-emissions, battery powered lightweight based on the Lotus Elise. Now, where have we heard that before?

Fly, my pretty, fly!

If a Bentley crashed headfirst into a Fifties Cadillac in Soviet-era Russia, the astonishing Honqi L5 might just be the result. It is strange and terrible and we find ourselves very much wanting one.

We have no idea what Johnson Controls does, or sells, or fixes. Frankly it doesn't matter. Johnson Controls. That is all.

The Fiat Ottimo is what China calls the Bravo. The Fiat Ottimo racer is very pretty indeed. Fancy a punt in the BTCC, guys?

Heads? Where we're going, we don't need heads.

Tiny Neo concept is part Toyota iQ, part Evil Smart, all silly.

Lifan RX50 is sad to see you.

When is an A-Class not an A-Class?

A strange and fascinating blend of BMW i8, DeLorean DMC 12 and blind ambition.

We don't know what it is. We don't know what it wants. All we know is that (a) we want it out of our sight as soon as possible and (b) it appears to induce comas in bystanders.

Long-wheelbase Range Rover not long enough for you? Then why not fold your freakishly lanky limbs into the long, long, long Rangey limo? Parking may be an issue. As may the whole ‘social acceptability' thing...