In the meantime, small cars remained the top performers industry-wide in October as consumers coped with high fuel prices.
That's why it's going after markets where it's the underdog--trucks in the U.S., small cars in Europe and big pieces of emerging markets around the world.
The newer settlers live in conditions that are clearly worse than the original villagers, in small flats instead of large villas, and without the cars or crystal chandeliers.
With big trucks and SUVs in the mix, automakers need small cars like the C-Max to overachieve.
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They stood at a solid 12% in the third quarter, but Ford expects the margins to drop to 8-10% in the long run due a greater proportion of small cars (such as the Fusion and the Focus) being sold.
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The new company would have an impressive range of models: Daimler's car-making division, Mercedes-Benz, produces the best luxury cars in the world, plus some innovative small ones just coming to market and several untried commercial ventures.
Then there's the flood of small, high-mileage cars from other manufacturers hitting showrooms in the next couple of years (see "Small Is Big").
Today we got to see the thing in action at the Pepcom event here at CES. The hardware is a small black plastic box that should plug into most cars sold in the US after 1996.
ENGADGET: Delphi / Verizon's Vehicle Diagnostics hands-on (video)
He expects Western European sales to be roughly stable in 2010, but with demand for bigger and more profitable vehicles replacing the artificial surge in demand for small, cheap cars.
Ian Clifford, the chief executive of the Zenn Motor Company in Toronto, has done a deal with EEStor to replace the lead-acid batteries in the small, low-speed electric cars that his firm sells for urban use.
In November Ford will begin refitting the assembly line to produce small cars based on six models it currently sells in Europe.
Many of its newer models, in fact, are small, fuel-efficient cars like the Chevrolet Volt plug-in hybrid and Cruze compact.
Over the long term Marchionne expects those jointly engineered architectures to be the source of an array of small cars and crossovers selling in huge volumes under multiple brands around the world.
The small cars on display in Detroit represent a critical battleground for U.S. automakers around the world.
Plus, it remains to be seen whether Americans will gravitate toward the small cars Ford sells in Europe.
And along with another less-heralded brand, Mazda (also under the Ford umbrella), which will lead Ford to better engines and mechanical know-how (especially in small cars), Ford seems to be taking the approach that what it can learn from its subsidiaries will only better its own identity while simultaneously enhancing the credibility and individuality of its satellite companies.
Firstly, the fact that they are small means their prices are usually lower than the cars in other segments.
Brazil is chock full of small cars not currently sold in the U.S. that could potentially be exported.
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With small cars back in fashion, the betting is on the latter.
Even in North America, it has been trying to push up prices of its small cars like the Focus and Fiesta by loading them with premium features in a bid to offset lost profits from slower-selling SUVs.
The budget also committed more money to help the owners of small businesses to buy cars, the unemployed to find jobs and people in the countryside to get health care.
They would rather identify electric utilities and car companies as the culprits in global warming and declare that they are riding to the rescue with mandates for windmills and small cars.
Both French companies are following in the footsteps of Fiat, which sells one in five of its cars in Brazil, where it first launched the Palio, a rugged but stylish small car that will soon be produced in India and North Africa too.
The deal between GM and SAIC to set up a 50:50 joint venture to produce small cars in India, announced on December 4th, is another sign of the times.
ECONOMIST: Three deals signal the way forward for the car industry
With petrol so highly taxed everywhere, the greater fuel economy of diesel engines, even in very small cars, has proved increasingly attractive to consumers.
Industry officials are eager to point out that small cuts in the fuel consumption and emissions of millions of cars add up and have a greater impact overall than what might still be a relatively weak take-up of electric cars.
The current growth of Chinese auto market will be stymied in 2011, due largely to the removal of subsidies on small-engine cars.
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Mercedes and BMW have enjoyed the best margins in the business, but they have lost lots of money on their small cars.
The hottest-selling segments in the auto business should continue to be fuel-efficient small and midsize cars and crossover SUVs (including compact models), which combined account for around two-thirds of all new-vehicle sales according to Autodata.com.
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