[dav305z]

Honda is best positioned for this market because they never shifted from what they and other Asian manufacturers did in the first place. They've focused on the Civic and Accord to the point where's there's no real doubt as to their superiority over Toyota's stuff, and they never really entered the full size truck market.

Toyota will be significantly better positioned than GM once they get their production mix adjusted correctly, but I don't think they're as well off as they'd have been even five years ago. The Corolla and Yaris are competent, but by no means class leading. I'd put them at the back of the Asian pack, and perhaps even behind the Cobalt and Aveo. The only real advantage they have - and it is a big one- is a reputation for building bullet-proof little cars.

In other words, GM's main challenge right now is a marketing one. They are no so badly positioned that they cannot respond to what this market wants. Cobalt is stale, but it's not a dog either. Ford seems to be doing well enough with the far inferior Focus just by advertising the hell out of it, and GM's mid-sizers can easily hang in there withthe best of them (even the long-in-tooth G6 was up 26 percent in retail sales last month).