BY LINDA LUONG

I will be straight up and say that I don’t know anything about cars. Things like horsepower, stability control, engine compression and tiptronics mean very little to me. Not to sound cliché (and stereotypically girly), but it might as well be Greek to me. This past December I was in the market for a new car; the last time I bought a new car was in 2004. Needless to say, a lot had changed since I last looked at cars—which I should note are merely a means to get from Point A to Point B to me. These were the “must-haves” on my car-buying criteria:

• A sun- or moonroof was a must. My last car had one and I prefer it to air conditioning.
• Colour was king. I want an aesthetically-pleasing car even if I didn’t have a clue as to how it ran.
• Gas efficiency was important. Gas is expensive these days, and I wanted bang for my buck.

(I let someone else figure out if the mechanics of the car were good or not.)

So, needless to say, my visit this week to the Canadian International Autoshow was a bit of an overwhelming and surreal experience to a car novice like myself. But, here are four trends I noticed from the world’s top automakers.

Trend One: Red is Hot
Whatever make, size or style of vehicle you like, red and all of its varying shades, were stand outs.

Trend Two: The Colours of the Rainbow
Though there were lots of white and black cars, bold hues such as copper, yellow, apple green and powder blue, were also popular.

Trend Three: Contrasting Interiors
Interiors with the opposite shade as the exterior was also a common trend, or similarly, interiors with a contrast detail such as black upholstery with red stitching.

Trend Four: Get Under the Hood
People like to see what makes the car go (this writer excluded). Many cars had open hoods, particularly hybrid or electric vehicles.