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It goes without saying, but we're going to go ahead and say it anyway: Crossovers are so hot right now. According to data compiled by Ford, the CUV industry has expanded 220 percent since 2006, which is the year the Blue Oval introduced the world to the Edge, its main player in the hotly contested market.

Ford also contends that the over 400,000 Edge CUVs have sold since late 2006, making it the best-selling mid-size crossover over that period of time. Don't expect that growth to slow down any time soon, either, as Ford projects the CUV segment will increase another few percentage points in 2011. In fact, the market for CUVs will grow to be as large as that of full-size pickup trucks.

In order to meet the increased demand it expects for CUVs, Ford has sharpened its Edge (sorry, couldn't resist) for the 2011 model year. Of special note are the two new drivetrain choices that join the standard 3.5-liter V6 engine, a 2.0-liter EcoBoost with 285 horsepower and a 3.5-horsepower 3.7 Ti-VCT V6 in the newly beefed-up Edge Sport.

The House that Henry Built is also quick to point out that its next-gen Edge will come with a full suite of technology options, including Sync and MyFord Touch. So, will all of this added goodness equal a worthwhile improvement to the hot-selling previous-generation Edge?

General Motors has reached an agreement with one of its primary Chinese partners, Shanghai Automotive Industries Corp. (SAIC), on the joint development of powertrains for small vehicles.

GM and SAIC will develop and produce a family of four-cylinder engines ranging from 1.0- to 1.5-liters with direct injection and turbocharging. The GTDI engines should cut fuel consumption by around 20 percent compared to similarly-sized engines with equivalent output.

The engine will be used in GM and SAIC vehicles in China and around the world, and to go along with the new engine, the partners will also develop a small dual-clutch transmission that should provide a 10 percent boost in efficiency over current six-speed torque converter automatics. Work on the engine and transmission will occur at GM's powertrain engineering center in Pontiac, MI and the Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center in Shanghai.

GM has yet to announced when the new powertrains will debut in production, but mid-2011 is a safe bet.

[Source: General Motors]

Whoops! The men and women in Stuttgart weren't planning to unveil the new Mercedes-Benz CLS just yet, but the crew from eMercedesBenz snagged these leaked images showing the new four-door coupe in all its production-ready glory.

As expected, the new CLS takes a lot of its styling cues from Benz's Shooting Break concept (they're name, not ours) notably the upright grille and more aggressive front fascia. The sectioned-off headlamp design has also remained intact, and from these photo-realistic renderings, it looks like someone shot the CLS in the eyes with lemon juice. Still, we're eager to see how this mix of LEDs looks out on the road at dusk. The CLS also uses the more shapely rear hips of the Shooting Break concept, rounding out the revised rear end. It's certainly more stylish than the outgoing CLS, which says a lot.

Inside, the CLS continues to use its four-seat arrangement with a center console that extends the full length of the cabin, and we fully expect the overall refinement to fall somewhere between the E-Class and S-Class sedans. Plush stuff, we're sure.

When the CLS launches, eMercedesBenz reports that a new 3.5-liter direct-injected V6 will be offered, as well as a twin-turbocharged 4.6-liter V8 good for around 430 horsepower and 516 pound-feet of torque. Of course, an AMG version won't be far behind with the all-new 5.5-liter twin-turbo V8 underhood.

Now that these leaked shots have hit the web, don't be surprised if the official images and details are published in the very near future

[Source: eMercedesBenz]

We've been expecting this announcement to come sooner or later, though we didn't exactly count on it coming from the LA Auto Show's own Twitter page. But there it is anyway, straight from the horse's mouth: "Saab has confirmed that the 9-4X Crossover will make its world debut at the LA Auto Show this Nov."

We're also expecting some sort of official word that the new crossover 'ute, which will share its Theta Premium underpinnings with the Cadillac SRX, should hit the market sometime in the spring of 2011... perhaps around April.

While we're on the subject of expectations, we'd also imagine that Saab will offer its premium crossover with the same powerplants as the recently released 9-5, which means we could see a 2.0-liter turbocharged four and a 2.8-liter turbocharged six, both likely mated with a six-speed automatic transmission and available all-wheel drive. We'll apparently find out for sure soon enough.


[Source: LA Auto Show's Twitter]