DETROIT - For decades, the marketing phrase "Sell the sizzle, not the steak" aptly described the scene at auto shows. Reporters flocked to gawk at glamorous space-age concepts or thundering sports cars, leaving more humdrum, and practical, machines to the tire-kicking public, according to The New York Times.

But new realities were on center stage at last week's press previews of the North American International Auto Show. As car companies spoke grandly of the "electrification" of the automobile, it often sounded like the same-old sizzle, best taken with grains of salt.

Yet the atmosphere in Cobo Center felt changed. While some of the show's plug-in cars and pure electric vehicles will surely turn out to be hokum, the variety and scale of the offerings suggest that change is afoot -- new, leaner meat will be added to the automotive menu.