Small is the next big thing in Detroit

SMALL IS beautiful. That’s the message being preached from the stages and stands at this week’s Detroit motor show, or auto show as they prefer to call it. Dreams of electric cars remain, but in the shorter term, the aim is to get Americans to follow the example of the rest of the planet and downsize their motoring ambitions.

Last month, Ford introduced Americans to the Fiesta and this week they used its hometown show in Motor City to unveil the new Focus.

Designed in Europe, it's the next generation of our own model and will arrive with us later this year, and is set to enter every global market. The world likes family hatchbacks and this size of car is set to become the best-selling of all formats across the globe.

For the Americans, however, used to Ford being the brand for pick-ups and SUVs, it's a major change. That's why Ford's chief executive, Alan Mullaly, is billing it as the brand's most important product in 25 years.

The promises of electric cars on our roads by 2010 have gone a begging, but 2012 remains the target date for most brands – even if the initial volumes are going to be very limited.

Aside from small and electric, the other over-riding message of the show is that the industry is on the road to recovery. Words such as "growth", "expansion" and even "profit" are subtly returning to the industry lexicon. No one is daring to use the word "optimistic" yet, but there's a sense that the industry is turning a corner.

The so-called "Big Three" of General Motors, Ford and Chrysler are no longer the giants they once were. While GM and Chrysler were rescued from potential bankruptcy by US taxpayer money, Ford reformed from the inside and remains the healthiest of the US firms, further down the recovery route than the rest. It too went through a great deal of pain in 2009, but didn't need to seek government assistance, thanks in large part to the savvy management of former Boeing boss Alan Mullaly. While some initially dismissed him for not being "a car guy", his experience with ailing behemoths proved invaluable. The decision to introduce global models instead of different cars for different markets is the sort of common sense logic that seemed to evade most of the "car guys" for years.

But have the lessons of the last 12 months been learnt? According to the firm’s president, Bill Ford, there is no way they can be repeated. “I’ve worked in this firm for over 30 years now and know where we went wrong. I simply will not let it happen again. In a high fixed-cost industry like this, it’s all about flexibility and we need to be able to share platforms across several models, allowing us to manage the capacity of our plants. That’s the only way to survive.”

While Ford has started to turn the corner, the same cannot be said at General Motors, where the latest round of musical chairs at board level has added to the uncertainty about its future direction. That was epitomised by the farcical on-off sale of Opel earlier this year, and the more recent decision to close Saab and then extend the deadline for offers before again confirming its closure. Once the world number one carmaker, it’s still not clear what direction GM is going in, or who is in the driving seat.

At Chrysler, its future lies with Fiat, not something that many would have believed two years ago. The sight of Fiat 500s, a Ferrari and a Maserati nestled next to Dodge Ram pick-ups and blue-collar Camaro muscle cars is slightly surreal, but it’s the marriage that has kept the company afloat so far. Given that Chrysler only recently came out of a failed marriage with Mercedes’ German parent Daimler, time will tell if they have a better relationship with the Italians.

As for the new cars at the show, apart from the new Focus, fully fledged new models are relatively thin on the ground. Honda introduced the new CR-Z hybrid coupe, a three-door that bears some resemblance to the CRX of the late 1980s. It’s a mild hybrid with a 1.5-litre petrol engine and an electric motor that promises 122bhp and up to 6.8L/100km. Sadly the production car is more of a three-door hatchback than the sporty coupe promised.

Audi also showcased its new A8, previously revealed – and reported on in Motors – just before Christmas. Alongside this was a concept electric rear-wheel-drive sports car. While the firm has confirmed it will introduce limited production of its R8-styled e-Tron model in 2012, this model is not planned for production.

Otherwise, the majority of the focus was on concept cars that will make it into production in the next few years. The common trait of these was hybrid or full-electric powertrains and their relatively diminutive stature compared to the current cars on the streets of Detroit. Toyota introduced a new hatchback plug-in petrol-electric hybrid concept, the FT-CH, that’s smaller than the new Prius, while BMW showcased its full-electric version of the 1 Series coupe.

So, are the car firms finally waking up to public demand for small cars after years of doing their own thing? Environmental awareness is growing in the US, but that doesn’t mean the average American is eagerly awaiting the arrival of small European styles superminis. Michigan is a state that lives with weather akin to our “big freeze” for two or three months of the year, every year. Where public transport is not an option, a four-wheel-drive pick-up suddenly makes a great deal of sense.

They may indeed buy into the plug-in electric dream with family cars such as the Chevrolet Volt (to be sold in Europe as the Opel Ampera), but sitting at counter in the Post, a local bar for those who build and work on the show stands, the regulars baulk at suggestions they should downsize to a hatchback or supermini. “Have you seen the size of the trucks over here? They wouldn’t even see you in one of those cans,” reckons Lance. “You’d either get lost in a snow drift or become a speed bump for truckers.”

It seems US car firms may be answering the demands of politicians and image consultants with the new small cars, but have more work to do to change the tastes of Middle America motorists.