Yet the number of mass-market manufacturers that have successfully scaled back their ambitions in this way is remarkably small, and the challenges faced by Jobs are particularly daunting.

Panasonic put a new one on the market early this month, the first from a mass-market manufacturer.

Given all of Porsche's challenges, analysts say it can ill afford the distraction of taking over a much larger, much more troubled mass-market manufacturer like Volkswagen.

Some analysts question whether Porsche risks cheapening its name by yoking it to a mass-market manufacturer like Volkswagen.

Bear in mind most pros get them made up by a boutique and then stickered up according to whichever mass-market manufacturer is paying them.

Rifles are currently (2007) being chambered in .22 Hornet by Ruger, New England Firearms, CZ and various other mass-market manufacturers.

Germany's high labor costs are a problem for mass-market manufacturers like Volkswagen.

But surrounding it are other buildings where mass-market manufacturers and smaller houses take booths to display their wares to buyers from all over the world.

John Hutton, an influential home furnishings designer whose work has been widely imitated by mass-market manufacturers in the United States and Europe, died Thursday in Manhattan.

And taking on the mass-market manufacturers requires mass-market techniques.