Baby, You Can Drive My Car

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What's the response? When a TIME correspondent steered an xB around the UCLA campus, her car drew a lukewarm reception. Student Sam Brady, 22, said he wouldn't buy one because "I'm more of a sports-car guy." Another student, Jeff Barry, 21, wasn't sold on the styling, but said, "I'd drive a souped-up Shaq edition." At Toyota dealerships in Los Angeles the car is selling to a mixed age group. Sarah Huante, 34, of Torrance, Calif., the mother of a toddler, recently purchased an xB as a family car, rather than for accoutrements like its dashboard disco-lighting. "It feels roomier than a PT Cruiser," she says, referring to another car she was considering a model marketed to young buyers but favored more by boomers.

A special challenge for Detroit's automakers is that their entry-level cars the heart of the youth market rarely turn a profit. Such cars make money for only the most efficient automakers, and while the Big Three racked up nice efficiency gains, according to a study published last week, Detroit still takes a backseat to import brands.

Their strategies? Chrysler, which recently killed plans to build an entry-level pickup, is banking on cars like its Dodge Stratus coupe, which comes with a relatively brawny engine. Nearly 30% of that vehicle's sales are to Gen Y, one of the highest percentages in the industry (on average, 4% of new-car sales are to people under 25). GM is betting that a forthcoming version of its Cavalier nameplate (rumored to be called "Cobalt") will help spur that brand's sales to Gen Y. And GM is determined to reinvigorate its Saturn brand. An estimated 3% of buyers for L-Series models are under 25, and Saturn has announced production cutbacks for Ion, another car marketed to Gen Y. "Saturn almost had us," says Courtney Carreras, 32, editor of Yellow Rat Bastard. "They had that third door, which was kind of cool. My mom drives one, but I don't think I'd buy it."

Ford, celebrating its 100th birthday, is also laboring to look young again. Its Mustang, long a reliable seller to the young, will get a redesign next year and an ad blitz aimed at Gen Y. Ford hopes its next generation of entry-level cars will boost its fortunes. The peril, of course, is that by the time Ford or any other automaker thinks it knows what's cool, it may be looking in the rearview mirror.