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Here are today’s top headlines. Smart USA gets a new president. First look at the Cadillac CTS-V Coupe. And Somali pirates hijack a ship-full of Hyundai’s.

Up next, we’ll be back with the news behind the headlines.

This is Autoline Daily for Tuesday, January 5, 2010. And now, the news.

Big changes for the little smart. Penske Automotive, which handles the distribution rights for the microcar in the American market, announced that Jill Lajdziak, who used to run Saturn, will become president of smart USA . Dave Schembri, who had held that position, will move into Penske Automotive’s retail operations. For Lajdziak this could be jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. Sales of the smart fortwo have been abysmal.

As we reported yesterday, the Indian auto industry looks like it’s about to take off, and now we’ve got some shots of cars that were unveiled at the auto show in Delhi. Honda revealed what is calls the New Small Concept . Not many details about it, except that it can seat five people and that it will be introduced in 2011 in both India and Thailand.

Toyota also unveiled a new small concept for the Indian market, called the Etios . The vehicle is offered with two gas engines, a 1.2- and a 1.5-liter. Sedan and hatchback versions are available as well. Toyota says it will be built in India with as many local parts as possible to keep costs low and production will start later this year. Toyota expects sales of 70,000 a year and will also export the car.

From the Delhi auto show we move to the Detroit show. And the embargoes are starting to come off for some of the products that will debut next week at the NAIAS. Cadillac is showing the “V” version of the CTS coupe . Unfortunately, they’re not releasing many photos, so you don’t get a really good angle of what the car looks like. The key stats include a supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 with 556 horses, 551 pound feet of torque and a 0-60 time of 3.9 seconds. Another neat feature: no door handles. A touch pad opens the doors.

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