2013 Daytona 500 runs 200 laps, six of them count Race Recap:

2013 Daytona 500 runs 200 laps, six of them count Race Recap:It's been a huge month, leading up to the Super Bowl of NASCAR, the Daytona 500. This is the first year of the new Car of Tomorrow, the "Gen Six" car, and all of the drivers have been trying to figure out its intricacies. The Ford Fusion and Chevrolet NASCAR SS has joined the field and its street-legal equivalent, the SS, was introduced. A huge wreck in the Nationwide Series race the day before the Daytona 500 tore a car in half, tore a hole in the fence, sent car parts flying into the crowd and injured some 33 spectators.

2013 Daytona 500 runs 200 laps, six of them count Race Recap:

2013 Daytona 500 runs 200 laps, six of them count Race Recap:

2013 Daytona 500 runs 200 laps, six of them count Race Recap:

2013 Daytona 500 runs 200 laps, six of them count Race Recap:

2013 Daytona 500 runs 200 laps, six of them count Race Recap:

2013 Daytona 500 runs 200 laps, six of them count Race Recap:

2013 Daytona 500 runs 200 laps, six of them count Race Recap:

2013 Daytona 500 runs 200 laps, six of them count Race Recap:

And then, of course, making just her 11th Sprint Cup Series start, there was Danica Patrick on pole position. She'd lead the way for the 43 cars on the grid to start the 200 laps of the 2.5-mile oval called the Daytona International Speedway, with its five-story-high turns banked at 31 degrees and the 3,000-foot front stretch banked at 18 degrees.

Perhaps all that excitement is why James Franco, the honorary race starter there to promote Disney's new film, Oz the Great and Powerful, yelled "Drivers, and Danica, start your engines!" to begin the 65th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship...

Patrick led Jeff Gordon in the number two slot next to her, with Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Greg Biffle, Kasey Kahne, Juan Pablo Montoya, Austin Dillon, Jimmie Johnson and Clint Bowyer in a two-up group behind.

Patrick didn't keep the lead long, Gordon taking the number one position by the end of the first lap, Patrick slotted right behind him. The opening laps saw a fair bit of action as those further back tried to figure out where the other fast lines were. Daytona can handle cars four and five abreast, but everyone knew that the outside line was the fastest – and almost all of the race was led by those "rim-running" within a car length of the SAFER barrier. Cars that tried the inside line got the worst of it unless there were a few of them in a tight group – one driver said "If you don't get a big enough group to go down to the bottom with you, it's difficult to pass and you drop from the front of the field to the back."When bunches did get together, the inside line could do the trick. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. started 19th, and by lap six he was up to 12th, Daytona rookie Dillon went from 8th to 5th, Clint Bowyer from 10th to 6th. Higher than that spot, though, things settled in quickly. On Lap 10 it was Gordon, Patrick, Kyle Busch, Kahne and Dillon, and it stayed single file through most of the pack.

Lap 26 saw the first caution to clear debris. About the most exciting thing so far was Gordon getting "either a hot dog wrapper or a piece of debris" stuck on his grille of his car complaining of his water pressure going ballistic. With no one to draft behind to remove it, there was nothing he could do until the caution; that's when he pulled up close behind the Chevrolet SS pace car and whatever it was flew off.

After some yellow-flag pit stops, the green flag appeared on Lap 30, the order being Gordon, Dillon, Kahne, Kyle Busch, Johnson, Biffle, Kenseth, Kurt Busch, Patrick and Harvick. Showing how bad that inside line was, though, Dillon dropped down and went from second place to 21st in less than half a lap. Patrick managed to make it work for her, on the other hand, when she went from ninth to sixth with an inside move.The second caution came on Lap 31, when a multi-car wreck took out some of the drivers in with a chance of winning. The incident sent Juan-Pablo Montoya, Tony Stewart, Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Jamie McMurray, Kahne and Casey Mears to the pits. After some repairs, Keselowski got back out in 23rd. Tony Stewart disappeared to his garage, grabbed a grinder and helped his crew repair his car. He finally got back out on Lap 115, 80 laps down and in 42nd place, just hunting for points. Tony Stewart has won 19 of the lead-up races to the Daytona 500 over the years, never the big race.

The wreck was announced as "Kasey Kahne just shot down across the nose of Montoya and everyone got on the brakes," and in the post-crash interviews, the affected drivers began their recount of the crash with some variation of "The No. 5 car (Kahne) got sideways...". Kahne said the guys in front of him, who were the leaders, slowed down in the turn and he got hit from behind when he had to get on the brakes. That led announcers discussing "Cars having to check up [slow down] in the middles of corners because they're just not handling" like the drivers want them to. Instability and extra turbulence around the Gen Six car has been a talking point during the run-up to the race.When racing began again on Lap 36 and settled down on Lap 38, it was Kenseth, Bowyer, Johnson, Patrick and Biffle. The passing difficulty and learning the behavior of the cars led to "logging laps," with single-file running and not much passing. A quarter of the way through the race it was Kenseth, Johnson, Patrick, Gordon, Busch, Logano, Dillon, Truex Jr., Hamlin, Biffle in the top ten. There had been five leaders, Patrick (one lap), Gordon (31), Kenseth (12), Johnson (five), Bowyer (one).

The order stayed pretty much the same for the next 20 laps when the next pit stop window opened. During those pits, Kurt Busch's pit stop went all wrong when the left front tire wasn't attached before the car came off the jack, and four crewmen had to lift the car up so it could be put on the jack again. The damage to the left side of the car had him repeatedly in the pits.

Patrick and Gordon, who had started the race one and two, were never far from the front. A third debris caution came out on Lap 85, the pits opened a lap later and all of the leaders stopped for fuel. On Lap 89, things went green, and Patrick took her spot in the lead with another inside move on Michael Waltrip. To start Lap 90 it was Patrick, Bowyer, Hamlin, Waltrip, Kenseth, Truex Jr., Biffle, Gordon, Johnson, Logano.She led for two laps, Denny Hamlin got around her on Lap 92, Kenseth got around Hamlin two laps later, and he'd go on to do 86 laps at the front of the race. There had been 15 lead changes for ten drivers to that point. The problem for Kenseth was that the man leading at the halfway point hasn't won the race since Davy Allison did it in 1992. On Lap 100, the race order was Kenseth, Hamlin, Patrick, Bowyer, Johnson, Waltrip, Burton, Truex, Jr., Biffle and Logano.

Twenty laps later, the order was exactly the same and the announcers repeated their expectation that "Go time" would have to happen soon.

Patrick took the lead one more time on Lap 126 for a brief spell when the two in front of her dove into the pits, but she took to the pits on Lap 129. After all the stops, the order on Lap 134 Kenseth, Hamlin, Bowyer, Busch, Martin, Truex Jr., Earnhardt Jr., Biffle, Patrick, Johnson.

Three laps later, another crash midway through Turn 2 claimed Josh Wise, Trevor Bayne, David Ragan, Carl Edwards, David Gilliland, and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. and that brought out a caution to clear up oil, water and other fluids that ran from Turn 1 all the way to the back straight. It took the cleanup crew nine laps to get it fixed, and when racing resumed it was Kenseth, Hamlin, Bowyer, Kyle Busch, Martin, Truex, Jr., Earnhardt, Jr., Biffle, Patrick and Johnson.That put the two Toyotas of Joe Gibbs Racing in front, then the cars decided to retire. Kenseth, having led 86 laps, started smoking something awful, and his crew didn't even pretend it was going to be fixed when he got to the pits. On Lap 152, Kyle Busch came into the pits, same smoke, same shrugging crew. That made the order Hamlin, Truex, Jr., Biffle, Johnson, Gordon, Labonte, Marcos Ambrose, Bowyer, Patrick and Regan Smith.

With less than one quarter of the race to run, the announcers were still saying "Sooner or later we're going to get to go time and the drivers will stop logging laps." It wouldn't happen soon: The final round of pit stops began on Lap 170 with Bobby Labonte coming in, by Lap 173 everyone had pitted, mostly for fuel and tires on the right side. At one point, smoke was pouring off of Dale Jr.'s car, but he stayed out and it cleared up, and Mark Martin's Toyota was thought to have lost a cylinder but that also cleared itself up.

On Lap 176, Jeff Burton hit the front stretch wall, bringing another caution. Keselowski, the 2012 Sprint Cup Champion, having been in two incidents including getting chewed up in the crash on Lap 31, was now leading the race, tape all over his car to keep it together.The race went green again on Lap 181 with 25 cars on the lead lap, the order being Keselowski, Biffle, Patrick, Gordon, Johnson, Martin, Earnhardt, Jr., Ambrose, David Reutimann, Hamlin. With just 19 laps left drivers had to start doing something, but up to this point anyone who dove to the inside other than Danica Patrick was still going backward. Then a group led by Jimmie Johnson, winner in 2006, got it going and by Lap 190 the race was Keselowski and Johnson side-by-side swapping the lead by a matter of inches, followed by Hamlin, Biffle, Bowyer, Patrick, Logano, Jr., Gordon, Martin. A win for Keselowski would have been extra special because the defending Sprint Cup champion hasn't won the Daytona 500 since 2000.

Then came another debris caution on Lap 192. Johnson had got ahead of Keselowski by inches, and on the inside line becaue he shot down with a pack of cars bunched up while the cars on the outside were spaced out. When the caution was called, Johnson had lane choice and he naturally took the outside line.

When racing resumed again lap 194, Johnson and Keselowski kept going at it, but the pack of cars on the outside stayed tight, those on the inside line put up a fight but couldn't get it done. On Lap 197 it was Johnson, Biffle, Patrick, Earnhardt, Jr., Martin, Keselowski, Ryan Newman, Regan Smith, J.J. Yeley and Michael McDowell.Then just after the white flag, Earnhardt, Jr. dove down the inside and blasted from fourth to second, but he couldn't pass his Hendricks Motorports teammate Johnson.

At the checkered flag it was Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Mark Martin, Brad Keselowski, Ryan Newman, Greg Biffle, Regan Smith, Danica Patrick, Michael McDowell and J.J. Yeley. It was the second Daytona 500 win for Johnson, who otherwise hasn't done better than 27th the past three years.

2013 Daytona 500 runs 200 laps, six of them count Race Recap:

The final stats: It was Hendrick's seventh win at Daytona; after three hours and ten minutes racing, there were 24 cars on the lead lap; 14 drivers led the race with 29 lead changes; 43 drivers started, 35 made it to the finish; and there were six cautions that swallowed up 24 laps.And there's even a treat for those of you who aren't NASCAR fans: Because Ryan Newman finished in top ten, you get a Bloomin' Onion at participating Outback Steakhouses when you make another purchase. Enjoy.2013 Daytona 500 runs 200 laps, six of them count Race Recap:

C7 Corvette turbo with 1,000 horsepower promised from Hennessey

C7 Corvette turbo with 1,000 horsepower promised from Hennessey If you can't wait for the next-generation Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, Hennessey says they will have you covered. The Texas-based company has announced it will offer a spate of upgrades for the 2014 Corvette ranging from a range of bolt-on options all the way up to a 1,000-horsepower, twin-turbo system. Buyers can start with a cold air intake, cat-back exhaust or stainless steel long-tube headers, but Hennessey says it will also offer up three stages of forced induction mayhem should those bits and baubles not provide enough thrust.

C7 Corvette turbo with 1,000 horsepower promised from Hennessey

C7 Corvette turbo with 1,000 horsepower promised from Hennessey

C7 Corvette turbo with 1,000 horsepower promised from Hennessey

C7 Corvette turbo with 1,000 horsepower promised from Hennessey

C7 Corvette turbo with 1,000 horsepower promised from Hennessey

C7 Corvette turbo with 1,000 horsepower promised from Hennessey rear view

C7 Corvette turbo with 1,000 horsepower promised from Hennessey

C7 Corvette turbo with 1,000 horsepower promised from Hennessey

C7 Corvette turbo with 1,000 horsepower promised from Hennessey badge

Those choices start with a supercharger system good for up to 700 hp, though Hennessey will gladly ditch the blower in favor of two turbos. Doing so will spin the crank to the tune of 800 horsepower all the way up to a certifiably ludicrous 1,000 ponies. There's no word on how much these tricks will cost you – or when they will be available, as we're guessing they haven't gotten their hands on the car yet – but you can head over to the Hennessey site to drop them a line if you're curious.

C7 Corvette turbo with 1,000 horsepower promised from Hennessey

Who sold the most heavy-duty pickups in 2012

Who sold the most heavy-duty pickups in 2012 Domestic manufacturers enjoyed a good year for heavy-duty pickup sales in 2012. PickupTrucks.com has taken a close look at exactly how those sales broke down between each manufacturer and between three-quarter and one-ton pickups. Ford sold some 67,786 F-250 Super Duty models last year with the Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD falling just behind at 56,359 units. The Ram 2500 HD came in third at 41,918, while the GMC Sierra 2500 HD earned itself fourth place with 27,616 deliveries. While Ford held onto the top spot in the one-ton market, Ram easily nailed down second place by selling more 3500 HD models last year than General Motors sold Silverado 3500 HD and Sierra 3500 HD trucks combined.

Who sold the most heavy-duty pickups in 2012

Who sold the most heavy-duty pickups in 2012

So, did GM manage to sell more trucks than Ford with its two brands? Very nearly. Ford sold a total of 119,338 heavy-duty pickups to GM's 111,555. Ram, meanwhile, moved a distant 77,583. But perhaps more interesting is the diesel take rate in this segment. PickupTrucks.com says 80 percent of all domestic one-ton trucks roll from the dealer lot with a turbo-diesel under the hood. Head over to the site for a closer look at the breakdown.

Who sold the most heavy-duty pickups in 2012

2013 Cadillac XTS

2013 Cadillac XTS As confusing as most alphanumeric car names have gotten in recent years, at least one constant has been that the letter "X" is generally indicative of a crossover. Then why did General Motors use this letter on its new 2013 Cadillac XTS luxury sedan? Well, for that, we'll have to look to the world of mathematics where "X" stands for an unknown variable or a placeholder. Now we're talking. The XTS is just an interim product sitting at the top of Cadillac's four-door food chain until the brand gets a true flagship in place. That sounds like a lot of resources to spend on what will likely be a one-and-done model, but the automaker needed to get something – anything – to replace the DTS.

2013 Cadillac XTS

2013 Cadillac XTS front view

2013 Cadillac XTS rear view

2013 Cadillac XTS rear 34 view

2013 Cadillac XTS grille

2013 Cadillac XTS headlight

2013 Cadillac XTS wheel

2013 Cadillac XTS badge

2013 Cadillac XTS interior

2013 Cadillac XTS front seat

2013 Cadillac XTS rear seats

2013 Cadillac XTS sun roof

2013 Cadillac XTS engine

2013 Cadillac XTS logo

So here you have the 2013 XTS. A big luxury sedan that was created to bridge the gap between Cadillac's recent past and its pending future. Going into our week with this XTS knowing that it was a stopgap measure proved to be both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, we know (or hope) that this car will act as a baseline for future high-end Cadillac models, but at the same time, we couldn't help but be mindful of past stopgap models, albeit in more entry-level segments, like the Cimarron and Catera.The XTS proves that GM has finally gotten platform sharing to the point where it's no longer a trivial game of "spot the differences" between products from its various brands. Although the XTS shares many of its underpinnings with the Buick LaCrosse and the 2014 Chevrolet Impala, the three cars look nothing alike. Overall, the XTS – along with the ATS – shows a promising evolution of Cadillac's signature styling cues, and it looks remarkably good even on a car measuring almost 17 feet in length. From most angles, it's hard to criticize the design of the XTS, but the rear three-quarter view exposes some of the car's chunkiness, which is likely a result of the long rear overhang and the short decklid. The bulky rear end does help the XTS provide a cavernous 18 cubic feet of cargo space, which happens to be almost two cubic feet (an extra piece of luggage) more than the Mercedes-Benz S-Class.

As nice as the overall styling of the XTS is, the exterior lighting might be the car's most expressive design elements. Up front, the headlights have a softer, rounder shape than previous Cadillac "Art & Science" designs, and there are also stylish lower running lights that line up perfectly with the headlights as if each side has a single light tube tucked in behind the fascia. Likewise, the vertical taillights also add to the car's appearance and even have some slight fin action that pays homage to classic Cadillacs. Perhaps the coolest exterior features on the XTS, though, are the illuminated door handles.Most versions of the XTS get features such as adaptive headlights and the parallelogram-shaped exhaust outlets integrated into the rear fascia, but our tester was the top-of-the-line XTS-4 Platinum, which included a distinctive satin-chrome grille, standard 20-inch wheels and available White Diamond Tricoat paint.Things get even better for the XTS once you look inside the car. GM has hit some pretty big milestones for interior quality over the last several years, including the 2008 Malibu and the 2010 LaCrosse, but it wouldn't be hard to argue that the XTS has one of the best-looking, highest-quality interiors GM has ever put together, and maybe even one of the best interiors found in a car priced under $100,000. Our Platinum tester had a nice mix of hues and materials, from three colors of leather used on the seats and instrument panel to the real wood, piano black and metallic accents. You can't touch anything inside this car without it being covered in some rich material, right down to the microfiber suede covering the headliner and A-pillars.

Front passengers are treated to wide, plush seats wrapped in soft perforated leather with heat and ventilating functions; you're not going to confuse the XTS seats for sport buckets, but as the theme of the car proved, it's not trying to be a sport sedan. Rear seat occupants are rewarded with plenty of headroom and legroom, as well as heated bottoms for the outboard passengers and sunshades for the side and rear window. For long hauls, the back seat is definitely the place to be.Like the exterior, lighting also plays a big role inside the XTS with ambient lamps that emanate from just about everywhere at night, along with steering wheel, center stack and even rear-seat controls that illuminate only when the car is on.In addition to the comfort afforded to XTS occupants, the car also delivers the expected amount of technology in this price class. Stealing a page from the Jaguar playbook, the XTS has a massive LCD screen for the gauge cluster that offers four different layouts with numerous information screens, and for more data, our tester also had a head-up display. Another innovative technology introduced on the XTS is the Safety Alert Seat, or as we like to call it, the butt buzzer. This uses separate buzzers on each side of the seat to relay different information to the driver. While driving, if the car starts to veer out of its lane to the left, then the left side of the seat bottom will vibrate; likewise, if the driver is backing up blindly and a car is approaching from the left, then the left side will vibrate.

In many regards, you just can't beat the XTS' interior, but there might be some objections to its functionality, mostly where it concerns the new CUE – Cadillac User Experience – interface and its associated technologies and controls. More than just an infotainment system, CUE is how passengers interact with the car, and like any other advanced infotainment technology (think MyFord Touch), there is definitely a learning curve to dealing with this system.Most vehicle operations can be controlled either by touch or voice, but the capacitive touch buttons and touch-screen display are sometimes slow to respond, so after you've accidentally double-clicked an option, you have to find the way to back up a step. Further creating some potential confusion, there are no hard buttons on the center stack, so the capacitive controls there have a weird "thud" feedback when operated. Keeping in mind that this is the first generation of CUE, we actually applaud Cadillac for not pigeonholing the XTS' interior by leaving out high-tech features to appease former DTS clientele. It's not easy judging a system like this after having only used it for a week, but like with MyFord Touch, we bet that owners who deal with CUE on a daily basis will have far fewer problems with the interface than we did. And when frustration levels become too high, CUE's voice recognition system is actually one of the better we've used and can easily handle inputs for functions used often while driving like changing channels or finding albums to play on your smartphone.

2013 Cadillac XTS

While the styling, luxury and technology of the XTS are all top-notch, it's what you can't see that prevents this car from holding a flagship status. Many luxury sedans in this size and price range get rear-wheel drive and at least offer a V8 engine, but the XTS is only offered with a direct-injected 3.6-liter V6 engine powering the front wheels through a six-speed automatic transmission. Our test car was the 4,215-pound, all-wheel-drive model, making the engine's 304 horsepower and 264 pound-feet of torque feel underpowered at times. But this car isn't about speed or quickness. It's about a smooth, comfortable ride, and Cadillac nailed this aspect seeing as how the XTS will, like the DTS and STS it replaces, continue to be a popular choice among the snowbird crowd. (To properly experience this, we did our week-long test of the XTS in – you guessed it – Florida.)With names like Brembo, Haldex and Magnetic Ride Control listed on the spec sheet of our tester, we could have just as easily been testing a sporty European sedan, but as nice as the interior is, driving the XTS will quickly confirm that "sport" is not in this car's vocabulary. As advanced as GM's LFX V6 is, it feels overworked in the XTS under moderate to heavy acceleration, which didn't surprise us when our week's worth of driving netted a combined 18.2 miles per gallon compared to the official EPA numbers of 17 city and 26 highway. If it were sportier to drive, we could live with such a number, but as a car that will likely make many a road trip from the Rust Belt to the Sunshine State, fuel economy was subpar.

On said road trips though, GM's Magnetic Ride Control shines in the XTS. The real-time, four-wheel suspension damping mixed with the rear air suspension makes this car an absolute dream to drive, absorbing potholes and road imperfections like a champ without ever feeling too soft or spongy. The Haldex all-wheel-drive system will come in handy for those aforementioned snowbirds with an electronic limited slip differential that can split up engine power at each wheel individually, but we never figured out why the XTS come standard with Brembo front brakes. We found no faults in the XTS' stopping distance, but at the same time, we saw no reason for the added cost either ­– yes, these brakes are standard on all cars, but replacement Brembo pads are never cheap. The only other grumble we could muster about the driving dynamic of the XTS was the choice to stick with a conventional hydraulic steering system rather than going to a smoother, more efficient electric system, especially for lower speed turns where the steering could feel a little jerky at times. As many small gripes that we had with the car, however, there's no question that the XTS is a V8 and nine-speed automatic transmission from being a true game-changer for Cadillac, even with its front-wheel-drive platform.Another downside of the XTS is its price, even though the base model's $44,075 MSRP isn't where the sticker shock lies. It's when you start tacking on options and packages that things get out of control. Our all-wheel-drive Platinum Collection tester topped out at $62,300, which, for that kind of money, is priced dangerously close to sportier, albeit smaller, sedans like the Jaguar XF and Lexus GS. Buyers looking for luxury and the latest technology, however, will likely not make the mistake of associating the XTS with those similarly priced sport sedans. Considering its chassis and driving dynamics, it's still playing in the mid-luxury sandbox with the likes of the Lincoln MKS, Volvo S80 and Lexus ES.

2013 Cadillac XTS

What you're getting for that as-tested price is a fully loaded sedan that finally gives Cadillac some momentum to swing back into the luxury car fight. Once the world standard for luxury and quality, Cadillac got there using vehicles with revered names such as Fleetwood, Deville and ElDorado, but today the way back to relevance starts with a vehicle given an anonymous, place-holding name: XTS. It's the Cadillac of stopgaps.

Cadillac V-Series Academy comes to Las Vegas

Cadillac V-Series Academy comes to Las Vegas General Motors has added another high-speed education course to the curriculum at the Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. The desert track already hosts the Ron Fellows Performance Driving School with Chevrolet Corvettes, including the ZR1, and they've just added the Cadillac V-Series Academy.

Cadillac V-Series Academy comes to Las Vegas

Cadillac V-Series Academy comes to Las Vegas

Open now, the one- and two-day performance driving school teaches "the finer points of high performance driving" using the 556-horspower instructional aids known as the CTS-V sedan, coupe and wagon. This is different than than using the CTS-V at the Monticello Motor Club on the east coast – that's part of a sponsorship deal that Cadillac has with the track. The driving course at the Motorsports Ranch is its own program that was developed by Fellows, and we have no reason to think the Cadillac edition won't be just as thorough and enjoyable as the one with Corvettes.

Cadillac V-Series Academy comes to Las Vegas

Unlike the 'Vette edition, however, it doesn't appear that you get an invitation to the program if you buy a CTS-V model. Classes are capped at 12 participants and run $1,295 for a single day, $2,295 for two days. There are a video and a press release below with more info.Cadillac V-Series Academy comes to Las Vegas

Cadillac ELR designer speaks, says it's a car "for everybody"

Cadillac ELR designer speaks, says it's a car "for everybody" The 2014 Cadillac ELR plug-in hybrid got a lot of buzz at the Detroit Auto Show, and was awarded the Eyes on Design honor as Best Production Vehicle. It's taken four years for the original concept car – the 2009 Converj based on the Chevrolet Volt powertrain – to make the next step forward.

Cadillac ELR designer speaks, says it's a car "for everybody"

Cadillac ELR designer speaks, says it's a car "for everybody"

Tim Kozub, Cadillac exterior design manager, said the design team used the Converj as a sketch to create the ELR. He thinks that proportion was everything in the design – the car is low and wide, and has 20-inch wheels which are pushed to the corners. "It just plants itself so beautifully," he says in a new GM design video, which you can watch below.

Cadillac ELR designer speaks, says it's a car "for everybody"

Performance is amped up in the ELR because it's a Cadillac, he said. It has the looks of a hot, exotic sports car with great attention to detail. That includes headlights made with crystal cubes surrounded by chrome, all LED and very high tech. "Everybody wants this hot car, this hot image coupe, to sit in their driveway, to step out of it at a restaurant," he says in the video.

Cadillac ELR designer speaks, says it's a car "for everybody"

We've got more of GM's marketing videos for the ELR, emphasizing a few themes, like animated phasing between sleek Cadillac body style and an inner skeletal frame showing off the technology. Check them out below.

Cadillac rushing update for laggy CUE infotainment system

Cadillac rushing update for laggy CUE infotainment system BMW's innovative iDrive was introduced in 2001, and a dozen years later, automakers are still learning hard lessons about what consumers want in their infotainment systems. In response to owner feedback – and a few media drubbings – about the delayed and occasionally fickle responses of its CUE (short for Cadillac User Experience) system, Cadillac has told Wired that it's going to issue an update this year.

Cadillac rushing update for laggy CUE infotainment system

Cadillac CUE integrates interior

Cadillac CUE integrates interior design

Cadillac CUE integrates interior design with industry

Cadillac rushing update for laggy CUE infotainment system

Cadillac rushing update for laggy CUE infotainment system

Cadillac rushing update for laggy CUE infotainment system

Cadillac rushing update for laggy CUE infotainment system

Cadillac rushing update for laggy CUE infotainment system

Coming for the XTS and ATS, the new software will mean quicker haptic feedback to driver inputs on the touchscreen and the buttons, and snappier responses on screen. Down the road, Cadillac's VP of marketing says that a different mix of screen controls and hard buttons is "something you'll be seeing in the future" – the system is presently a mix of touchscreen-based controls and capacitive-touch switchgear – there are no knobs or physical pushbuttons to speak of, and the omission of both has proven to be a divisive issue among consumers and industry pundits.

Cadillac rushing update for laggy CUE infotainment system

Cadillac hasn't provided a date for when the CUE update will be issued, but it has indicated that the service will be performed by dealers, not sent wirelessly.Cadillac rushing update for laggy CUE infotainment system