DETAILS, DETAILS; They're what's unveiled at the Los Angeles auto show.(Editorial)

Byline: MARK VAUGHN

Gone are the days when a manufacturer pulled a sheet off a car and the assembled automotive press corps gasped, cheered and then ran to the phone booth to file their big stories. Most of the news that would, in the past, have been "revealed'' at the Los Angeles auto show was already revealed in the weeks and months leading up to the show (and printed here). But that doesn't mean there aren't details, spicy details.

Take the Chevy Cobalt. Cynics yawned and said it would be "the Cavalier replacement,'' which it is. But in top-level SS trim the Cobalt will also be a Dodge SRT-4/Ford SVT Focus-fighter of the first order. The Cobalt Coupe SS Supercharged model will come with the most powerful of the line's three engine choices-making 200-plus hp through the front wheels. The supercharger is mated to the smallest-displacement version of the GM Ecotec engine at 2.0 liters. Normally aspirated versions of 2.2 liters and 2.4 liters will make 140 hp and 170 hp, respectively. Wheel choices will range from 15 inches standard on the base model up to 18 inches on the SS Supercharged. Options include such formerly luxo-only items as MP3 audio, XM satellite radio and OnStar. Look for Cobalt coupes and sedans in showrooms this fall, within eight to 10 months, depending on which GM exec you listen to.

Then there are these latest details on the Elise, which appeared on our cover Dec. 15. The long-awaited, much-anticipated U.S.-spec Lotus Elise will sticker at $39,985 ($10 less than we said a couple of weeks ago) when it debuts in American showrooms in late May (a couple of weeks earlier than we said). With its 190-hp, 138-lb-ft, 1.8-liter 16-valve four-cylinder Toyota engine, the U.S.-spec Elise will have a top speed of 150 mph, the fastest Elise ever made. It will go from 0 to 60 mph in 4.9 seconds.