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Indeed. Such as, What took them so long? Traditionally, Detroit has had little interest in the cars it dubbed "econo-boxes" because they are far less profitable than larger makes. Unfortunately, its lack of interest was all too apparent. And so, while the Big Three spent the '80s cutting corners on quality and aesthetics, and Big Three consumers spent the '80s having dashboard knobs come off in their hands, Japanese automakers were assiduously focused on making better small cars, along the way earning a reputation for reliability, quality and price. Now the market for compacts has grown so large that Detroit can no longer afford to treat it shabbily. Thanks in part to a rise in two-commuter families, two-thirds of all cars sold in the U.S. are compacts and subcompacts, up from 48% in 1980, and 43% of those cars are Japanese made. The Big Three are hoping their new models will enhance their muscle in a small-car market that continues to grow faster than that for any other family vehicle (up 14.2% during the first seven months of this year, while total car sales rose only 5.8%). Detroit's principal target: the top end of the compact market, where Japanese automakers sell 8 out of 9 cars.
But it is not just the Honda Civic buyer that Detroit is now intent on winning back. It is the Honda Civic owner who trades up to an Acura Legend. By manufacturing a decade's worth of compact and subcompact duds, American carmakers helped poison the well for the rest of their lines. In effect, they turned their backs on what marketers now call "a lost generation" of potential Ford customers and GM families and Chrysler loyalists who could have been expected to trade up to larger, more profitable models as their incomes rose. In fact, by the time Chrysler discontinued its luxury Imperial last year, the median age of owners had reached 73 -- a demographic niche without, alas, much upside.
Meanwhile, millions of American drivers are perfectly satisfied never having owned a U.S.-made auto. Admits Chrysler/ Plymouth general manager Steve Torok: "They are probably on their third or fourth Accord, and highly satisfied, and are likely to be risk-averse to buying an American product."
To reinvent the American compact, Ford, GM and Chrysler turned for inspiration to Europe, where luxury and relatively vast interior spaces are cleverly jimmied into small, efficient cars like the popular, European- designed Ford Mondeo (the Contour, in fact, is a first cousin to the four- door, five-passenger Mondeo). Engineers focused on enhancing performance handling, tightening suspensions and turning up the vrrroom quotient with more powerful (yet still fuel-efficient) engines, then wrapping the whole thing in fluid, surprisingly sexy packaging. Indeed, Chrysler president Robert Lutz gets a little carried away when he talks about Cirrus: "It looks like a powerful athlete in a very tight T shirt, like the sheet metal had to be stretched to fit the chassis."