Midway Group of Nebraska

KEARNEY - While standing next to it, it's hard to tell when the 2012 Chevy Volt is running. That's because…

Chevrolet also offers the Captiva crossover, which is imported from Mexico. But that compact is sold only to fleets. The first deliveries began late last week. You won?t find a Captiva sitting in a U.S. showroom.

So now the thumbs-up-or-down question is whether Chevrolet needs another crossover in its lineup, specifically a model based on GM?s new subcompact platform. That entry-level crossover is currently under debate. If approved by GM management, the crossover would be positioned below the Equinox. The time frame is unclear.

The first U.S. vehicle on that platform is the Chevrolet Sonic, which went on sale a few weeks ago. Two Sonic models are offered, a sedan and a five-door hatchback. The hatchback has a separate greenhouse and is about 12 inches shorter than the Sonic sedan, creating a vehicle that is distinct from the sedan.

Buick also will share the platform, but Buick?s model will be a small crossover, sharing underpinnings with the potential Chevrolet crossover. The Buick crossover is slated for sale sometime next year. Buick needs a model portfolio that appeals to a wider range of buyers, and the crossover fits in perfectly.

But does Chevrolet need one, too?

A side view of Dodge's new sedan.

Dodge's new compact sedan was seen wearing a heavy layer of camouflage. The sedan will replace the five-door Caliber hatchback in 2012. The front-wheel-drive car is based on a Fiat architecture. Two four-cylinder engines will be offered: Fiat's 1.4-liter and Chrysler's 2.4-liter.

SAN DIEGO --

While Ford has touted MyFord Touch, and the imports various infotainment systems, General Motors spent the past 30 months developing CUE, short for Cadillac User Experience.

The infotainment system's simplicity might remind users of an iPod Touch screen. By contrast, the complexity of Ford's system prompted Consumer Reports to urge readers not to buy vehicles equipped with MyFord Touch.

"The first thing they don't want to do is pull out a 500-page owner's manual and try to figure out how to use something. So we wanted to make the icons big, intuitive, easy to use. You will see the interface mimics a tablet computer more than it does a traditional automotive infotainment system," said Tim Nixon, executive director, global functional leader, infotainment and OnStar engineering.

Nixon was interviewed Tuesday at an embargoed Cadillac press event in San Diego. CUE was introduced Oct. 12 at the CTIA Wireless Association's Enterprise and Applications conference also in San Diego.

CUE will be standard on the 2013 Cadillac XTS sedan arriving next year and optional on the 2013 Cadillac ATS and SRX. The XTS replaces the DTS and STS in Cadillac's lineup. The ATS is Cadillac's new compact car, which also arrives in 2012. Pricing was not announced.

Cadillac claims several industry firsts for its infotainment system:

Haptic feedback: In an effort to key the driver's eyes focused on the road, buttons on the faceplate pulse when pressed to acknowledge the driver's commands.

Multi-touch hand gestures: Interactive motions (tap, flick, swipe and spread) popularized by smartphones and tablets are incorporated on to the 8-inch LCD screen to let the driver scroll lists and zooming in or out of a maps, for example.

Proximity sensing: When the driver's hand gets within eight inches of the screen, additional ions appear on the screen that give the driver more choices of things to control.

Natural speech recognition: The system lets consumers speak as they would in conversation and not with awkward commands and sequences.

Don Butler, vice president, Cadillac marketing, said CUE will make a statement: "If we are truly going to appeal to a luxury customer, we have to be relevant, and technology today and technology applied in a useful, meaningful way, that is relevant for the luxury buyer."

Butler said CUE also will be able to access all of the audio data on a person's smartphone: "It will make the vehicles that much more appealing from the standpoint of what they are able to do to accommodate how they are living their lives today."

"Now is the time to prepare your vehicle for the upcoming winter-driving season," said Mopar's Jim Sassorossi. "Preventative maintenance helps vehicles perform at optimum levels in a variety of conditions."

You can check of many of the items yourself in a a few minutes. However, unless you're a hardcore do-it-yourself type with a good working knowledge of your vehicle, you might want to have some of the items, like struts, shocks and brakes…

General Motors Co. is hoping to stay on the leading edge of transportation trends by investing in a San Francisco company that links people who need temporary wheels with others who want to rent out a vehicle they're not using.

GM said it will make a small investment in RelayRides and provide the fledgling ride-sharing company with its OnStar service to let people who are borrowing GM cars unlock them with their cell phones.

GM Vice Chairman Steve Girsky said in an interview on Tuesday that GM isn't sure the idea will take off, but his company wants to be on the cutting edge if it does, especially with younger people who are more open to the idea of short-term rentals or letting others use their vehicles.

"We don't know if this will work," Girsky said. "But as Wayne Gretzky said, you miss 100 percent of the shots you don't take."

GM declined to say how much it is investing in RelayRides.

The deal could increase GM vehicles' exposure with new customers, he said.

RelayRides lets car owners defray some of the cost of ownership with rental income, Girsky said.

"It's also equivalent to a hassle-free test drive," he said. The opportunity to check out GM cars this way could be especially important the Chevrolet Volt, a rechargeable electric car that has an onboard generator that kicks in when the batteries are depleted, Girsky said.

RelayRides now operates in San Francisco and Boston and plans to expand to other U.S. markets.

The program with General Motors vehicles will begin early next year.

The 300 -- CR tested a 2011 and the 2012 has a few more improvements -- got "excellent" in the magazine's road tests, moving it to midpack among premium sedans, from the cellar where it had been.

CAPTION

By Nissan