The 21 sec 0-60 could be hazardous in the US due to the fleet average 0-60 of ~10 sec. However, an electic boost from their upcoming hyrid transmission could render this issue null.

Again -- don't blame GM (directly) for not releasing a tin-can minicar here in the US. Blame consumers, who are even today generally unwilling to downsize quite that far, and federal safety regulations which, I am sure, make the current Spark/Matiz impossible to sell. For those who find it hard enough to park a normal size car in big cities here at home, a US-qualified Smart will soon be hitting the streets -- while being the same size as the Matiz, it's safer and better made, and costs a whole lot more.

Most modern minicars are not tin-cans, but after having been driven around in a Matiz in Eastern Europe, I think it comes close. For all that, I loved riding around in it -- at least it's better than the old Tico.

For all that we would like to think that GM is in bed with Big Oil and corrupt elements in the US Congress, my impression is that GM often follows the national safety regulations and standards that it encounters around the world, and is surprisingly ineffective at leading them or dictating them. If it had more clout, they would likely have not thrown away the millions they invested in designing the EV1, before tightening safety regs made it impossible to sell. For all that GM profits from each Escalade it sells over here, it also finds it profitable to sell minicars abroad, and would certainly try to find a way to make money on them here if the demand was there and they thought they could make it.

That CNG car looks great....export it to Germany!!

If a 20+ second 0-60 MPH time was really a hazard there would be safety regulations mandating a minimum acceleration rate. Just because the average new car is much faster, doesn't mean everyone else needs to be the same. There are still lots of gutless vehicles from the 1980s on the road (Chrysler K-Cars), driving without causing problems in normal traffic, sure they would lose a street race, but so what? Sounds very similar to the "you need a big heavy vehicle because everyone else has one" argument.

Hi John Ard, I don't mean to pick on you or anything, but I would question the statement that we "need" the ability to "dart" in traffic too. I guess it depends on how you define "dart." You don't need a car that meets the national average in acceleration to be deemed safe on the road, or even close for that matter. It might help once in a while, sure, but regardless of the idiots out there, if you are aware of your surroundings, and are defensive in your driving, and leave some room to maneuver at all times, you should be fine. Many many more accidents are caused by sudden "dartings" than by people not being able to get from 50 to 80 quickly enough, because they dart first and look/signal/think later. I drove truck for years in Toronto and that is one nasty city for traffic, and my experience matches Tom Deplume's, for what that's worth.

Ironically, I was rear-ended while entering the freeway once, but the guy was having a conversation with someone on his cellphone when he drove right into me. And he had lots of room! Ha, serves him right. Didn't do a thing to the truck bumper either. I suppose that's not very charitable of me, but when you drive in a big city you get tired of seeing certain things all the time.

The Big Three have been focussed on large sedans, SUVs and pick-up trucks for so long now that they have fallen behind in their ability to execute on low-cost fuel-efficient entry-level vehicles and still turn a profit. In particular, they wasted too much time NOT leveraging the design expertise their European and Asian subsidiaries/parent have in delivering such vehicles.

For selected models, it could be wise to at least execute the virtual portion of the rebadging effort required to meet US market requirements. Doing this pro-actively would shave many months off time to market if and when senior management in the US decides it needs such models in the lineup for a given brand.

Rafael:
It is already happening. GM is relying more and more for Opel and Korean models for US passenger car market.

Rafael:

It is not just two models you mentioned. Current Chevrolet Malibu is effectively Opel Omega, and generally whole Saturn brand is Opel-derived step-up for adaptation of Opel cars in US, including bread-and-butter Chevy Cobalt, to name a few. It is also included Opel engines and other German-built components such as Bosch fuel injection systems and alike.

I appreciate this trend, because in-house CAR developments of GM are way inferior to their European and Korean divisions models.