I almost dreaded the coming of the new Dodge Caliber, the long-needed replacement for the poor, unloved Dodge Neon. It's here and guess what? It has hit the streets of Los Angeles as a rental car. It looks cheap and I really hate the hard plastic interior. I applaud DaimlerChrysler for using a four-door hatchback layout as it makes the Caliber very flexible and handy. I also think the front styling makes it clearly a Dodge product. But it's just not playing on the same competitive level as its domestic and foreign rivals.

DCX plans on selling versions of the Caliber in the European market too. The Europeans have long embraced smaller, versatile, economical cars, so their expectations are high. And of course, DCX will offer the Euro Caliber with a diesel engine. However, I think they are going to be disappointed by the Caliber. Early reviews aren't glowing. The British car magazine AutoCar has already given the new Caliber a tepid review with complaints about both the drivetrain and the cheap plastic interior.

Ford is still selling its Focus; however, the excellent and well-liked European Focus, on the market there for more than two years, is missing from the US market. Ford claims that it can't manufacture and sell the nicer European Focus at a profit in the US. It seems like Ford has abandoned its efforts to market the current American Focus -- or any other small (subcompact) car in the US.

Ford's C1 (European Focus) platform is used in several Ford Group cars sold in the US. Volvo uses the C1 platform for its C40 sedan and V50 sports wagon and the upcoming C70 coupe/retractable hardtop. Mazda uses C1 in its fun and sporty Mazda3 sedan and 5-door hatch and a stretched platform called C1+ for the.Mazda5 compact minivan. The upcoming Volvo XC50 and the Land Rover LR2 (a replacement for the dog named Freelander) are also built on this excellent platform.

Ford seems clueless as to how to address the small car market under the Ford brand name. Even with an excellent global small car platform in its inventory and a wealth of engineers around the world, I don't see a new, competitive compact or subcompact Ford on the horizon.

GM relies mostly on big trucks and SUVs these days. However, GM is still a player in the small car market. GM's volume small (compact) car is the Chevy Cobalt. It's selling well -- in fact sales were up 45% from March 2005. My sneaking suspicion is that GM pumped up that number by dumping a ton of these undistinguished cars into the rental fleets. The only privately-owned Cobalts I see are the Cobalt SSes -- and there are precious few of those.

The cousin to the Cobalt is the Saturn Ion. It's also a quiet success for GM. Saturn customers are very loyal. They still cling to the cult status created around the little cars when they were introduced 16 years ago. For now, the Ion carries on the Saturn tradition of plastic body panels and kind of quirky styling.

In 2005, Saturn sold over 100,000 Ions! But in the infinite wisdom of GM's management, the Spring Hill Tennessee plant won't be used exclusively for Saturn (if at all) and the beloved plastic body panels will be ditched for conventional sheet metal as models are replaced with rebadged Opels (GM's German subsidiary). I still think Saturn could have competed in the tight-margin highly competitive small car market, but with only the Ion sedan and Quad Coupe on the showroom floors, it's not likely that Saturn will be a relevant player in this niche for long.

GM's GM-Daewoo Korean subsidiary is playing an important role in filling the small/economy (subcompact) car void in GM's lineup. GM says the Chevy Aveo has been an unexpected "hit". Sales are relatively good (~3,500/month, 68,000 in 2005). The car is small and economical. But the drive is sub-par and it doesn't even have the fun factor you can sometimes get with a small car (think Honda Civic Si).

From our perspective in Los Angeles, the Aveo is a rental car. It isn't even a "first car" or "college car". Those spots go to Honda or Toyota/Scion on the low end or BMW, Porsche, Mercedes or Audi on the high end.

On the other side of the Pacific Ocean from California, the Japanese and Koreans have a vast array of good to great little cars. The new small cars from Asia are much more appealing alternatives to the bland stuff coming from Detroit.

Toyota has the Corolla and the new Yaris. The Yaris is the replacement for the unloved Echo. Both the Corolla and Yaris are serviceable, if boring refrigerators. For some reason, though, the little Yaris 3-door coupe is a much more appealing design than the sedan. If you want a small Toyota, the Yaris 3-door would be my first choice.

Toyota also offers its new Scion brand. Scion has three interesting models designed to appeal to the younger buyers. However, in addition to that coveted "youth" demographic, many senior citizens and buyers of all ages have discovered the value and economy of these little cars. I'm not a fan of either the small xA four-door or the box-like xB, but I kind of like the tC coupe. That said, the xB's sales are double of either of the other models. People love that box shape!

Honda is not to be outdone in this category. The new Fit small car, which slots below the Civic, just won a multi-small car comparison in the May 2006 Car & Driver. The cars tested are as follows, in order of total test scores:

1. Honda Fit - 228 points
2. Nissan Versa - 203 points
3. Kia Rio5 SX - 188 points
4. Toyota Yaris - 185 points
5. Hyundai Accent - 176 points
6. Dodge Caliber - 161 points
7. Suzuki Reno - 160 points

Aside from a big win in the C&D comparison, the Fit also got a glowing review from Dan Neil, automotive critic for the LA Times. This week, he summed up the Fit in one word: "charming". Dan reports that Honda predicts that the US subcompact segment will grow 58% by 2010. Honda is ready for this increase. So are Toyota, Nissan, Mazda and the Koreans. Detroit isn't ready for this at all. GM is staking its future on its new big SUVs and trucks built on the new GMT900 platform.

Unfortunately for DCX, the Car & Driver's front cover picture of the Dodge Caliber isn't followed up with a glowing review. It's a big "ouch" to Dodge to be at the bottom of the list, below the Korean Twins, and just one point separating it from the equally sad Suzuki Reno (made by GM-Daewoo for Suzuki).

Honda is also riding high on the huge success of its all-new Honda Civic. It's won so many "Car of the Year" awards; it's hard to keep track of them. Honda has given the Civic a soul again with fresh and sporty styling inside and out. And the prices are very reasonable for even the most expensive EX model with automatic transmission and navigation or the very sporty new Si.

Nissan hasn't given up on the small car market. The Sentra continues to be a solid player in this field, although it's often left out of buyers' lists. The Sentra isn't very remarkable either, but it is good, basic reliable transportation.

Later this year, the Nissan Versa will be here. It's a car that is already available in Japan under a different name, and its target competition is the Honda Fit and Toyota's Scion xA and xB buyers. The top trim Versa with lots of advanced electronic and safety features, including Bluetooth and smart key access, is around $20,000. Even though it's not available yet at your Nissan dealer, Car & Driver had a copy for its test and it scored very well in the #2 slot in their test.

Mazda sometimes gets left out of the crowd when you compare the "Big 3" - Toyota Honda and Nissan -- to all the others: Mazda, Subaru, Suzuki and Isuzu.

We are fortunate to have Mazda still alive and competing in the US market because Mazda brings us some great niche products like the MX-5 (formerly the Miata), the RX-8 rotary engine sports car and its unique small car, the Mazda3. The Mazda3 is a bit larger than the cars in the C&D test, but it fits squarely into the small category that includes the Ford Focus, Chevy Cobalt, Saturn Ion and Dodge Caliber. It even can take on the "multipurpose" small cars like the Chevy HHR and Chrysler's PT Cruiser.

I really like the Mazda3 5-door hatch. It has great styling and the interior looks and feels very upscale. It's also the only car in the US based on Ford's global C1 platform. Mazda is also the only manufacturer to use the C1+ platform in the US for the Mazda5 mini minivan. My favorite Mazda3 5-door is the Grand Touring model with moonroof and navigation packages. It's a great little car with all the bells and whistles that makes life driving in LA traffic a bit more tolerable.

The Korean Twins, Hyundai and Kia, have plenty of home-market small cars to choose from to bring to the US market. I liked the looks of the Kia Rio5 SX even before I saw it scored pretty well in recent tests. What I like about it is the versatility of the 4-door + hatchback and the bold wide band of rubberized plastic that wraps all the way around the car. That band should help protect the car from the usual scars from parking lot battles while adding a stylish element to an otherwise plain car.

The Accent is the entry-level small car for Hyundai. While it's usually dismissed as a throw away car, the most recent iteration is better than ever. To be sure, it's still low-end basic transportation, but it's light years ahead of where it was just 10 years ago. I don't even remember how many generations of this car have been introduced to the US; but it seems like every two or three years, a new one appears. Each new generation shows the significant progress Hyundai has made in copying the Japanese competition. Unfortunately for both Hyundai and Kia, residuals for their cars are still at the bottom of the heap. But as new models like the new Sonata are introduced, consumer acceptance is increasing dramatically and residual values will eventually follow.

The current trend in LA is to smaller, more fuel efficient cars, trucks and SUVs. The Japanese and Koreans are the big players in this market and the Big 2 Americans plus the American division of DaimlerChrysler are very vulnerable in this growing market segment.

And when it comes to premium small cars, it's Volkswagen, Audi, Mazda and MINI that offer some very interesting choices in the range above $20,000.

From my point of view, GM and Ford will continue to lose market share in key growth markets. It's likely that the Japanese and Koreans will be sucking up that lost market share with products that are here now for consumers to consider as alternatives to their current gas guzzler trucks and SUVs.

The Los Angeles market offers proof that people want to have "greener", more world-friendly cars. Hybrids customers are on long waiting lists. Even very expensive hybrids like the Lexus RX400h and the new GS450h have customers lined up to waste money. On the lower end, the new Honda Civic -- sedan, coupe and hybrid -- are extremely popular. I see them everywhere.

People want to buy stylish and economical cars from a tiny Honda Fit to the monster Lexus GS450h. It's cool to be "green" and it's cool again to drive a small economy car as long -- as it has style.

The Asian forces are going to win this battle, hands down, against the Americans. The real battle will be among the Asian brands themselves -- and maybe Germany's VW brand. I doubt that they even worry about Detroit these days. They are worried about each other and they are all checking the rearview mirror for Chinese headlights.