Just like a show dog or thoroughbred race horse, the Chevrolet Cruze has a good pedigree—good enough to compete in the compact segment currently ruled by the Toyota Corolla and Honda Civic.

It seems like the Fiesta has been making its way to the U.S. for a long time given its debut at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show as the Verve Concept. After going on sale in Europe last year, Ford’s World Car debuts for North America tomorrow at the L.A. Auto Show.

Porsche is one of the few automakers that understands subtraction as a way of improving a car. Case in point, the Boxster Spyder.

Infiniti’s flagship sedan will debut on the eve of the L.A. Auto Show. Preview details, such as they are, after the jump.

Mazda brings its popular subcompact, the Mazda 2, to the L.A. Auto Show ahead of a late 2010 launch in the U.S. as a 2011 model.

General Motors will debut the North American version of its new, global small sedan, the 2011 Chevrolet Cruze, at the L.A. Auto Show.

Green Car Journal, a magazine dedicated to covering vehicles friendly to the environment, will present its Green Car of the Year Award this morning at the L.A. Auto Show. The nominees this year are the BMW 335d, Ford Fusion Hybrid, Saturn Vue 2-Mode Hybrid, smart fortwo and Volkswagen Jetta TDI.

LOUD music, fog machines and an often blinding light show. You’ve either stumbled into a Van Halen tribute band concert or you’re at an auto show press conference. Exuberance began and ended with the theatrics of unveiling cars.

They’ve got the world on a string

Yesterday’s overview of the upcoming L.A. Auto Show might have sounded a tad too enthusiastic. Apologies. The reality is that the show is a reflection of the dire situation automakers find themselves in, only it’s representative of a few months ago with the exception of GM’s recent cancellation of its press conference and display of anything significant.

The L.A. Auto Show starts this Friday, filling the Los Angeles Convention Center with the industry’s latest offerings. The show hasn’t always had much in the way of exclusive debuts and, before moving to the current November dates, it overlapped the Elvis Presley of car shows, Detroit. Now it leads off the U.S. auto show season, which includes Detroit and Chicago.