South Korean newcomer CT&T, founded by a former Hyundai executive, has been pushing its wares hard at the recent auto shows.

That's especially true in Detroit, where it was announced that some of the vehicles showcased, including the C Squared (a 2-seater sports car) and the pinched, toy-looking Tango T600 urban electric, would "go into production in the second quarter of 2010," according to Curt Westlake, the company's marketing director.

Of course, as MSN Autos' and Exhaust Notes' own Chuck Tannert pointed out, neither is approved for regular use on American roads; both are instead classified as low-speed vehicles, the same category in which you would find a golf cart. (For the record, the company says the top speed of the C Squared is a decidedly not-low-speed 93 mph.)

Whether that classification will hurt or help their sales (LSVs tend to be less expensive than traditional cars) remains to be determined. What is clear, though, is that the company is unafraid to buck trends, or start some of its own -- just look at the cool, amphibious electric vehicle pictured above, which has a top speed of 40 mph on land and 10 mph over water.

Vehicles like the one pictured suggest CT&T is truly aiming at emerging markets: As Gizmag reports, the company -- with factories in South Korea and China and one planned for the U.S. -- already has greater EV manufacturing capacity than any other company in the world. And, sure, the eZone Plus or the Tango T600 are unlikely to be clogging up highways near you, to say nothing of an amphibious electric vehicle. But considering that 95 percent of the world lives near or on water, it's apparent that despite how the fleet fits into the U.S. marketplace or regulatory categories, CT&T is building vehicles that it thinks someone -- somewhere -- will want to drive.

For a full run-down of what's happening at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, follow MSN Autos' wall-to-wall coverage here.

(Photo courtesy of Gizmag.)