To its credit, Ford brought the Focus to the small-car market.

Plagued by a declining small-car market, Saturn's sales have plummeted, and many workers said that they feared layoffs in the coming months.

Much has changed in the small-car market.

And with gas so cheap, the small-car market has shriveled.

Because of sluggish sales and intensified competition in the small-car market, the operation offered little hope of becoming profitable, Volkswagen said.

To many, GM's announcement simply meant that the American automotive industry finally had decided to get serious about competing in the small-car market.

The Minor was Morris's attack on the small-car market that had really been created by the Seven.

Not only that, Saturn has been confined to a small-car market that is fiercely competitive and rapidly shrinking.

In fact, he said, the group, which he puts at ages 24-30, is diverse and accounts for about half the two- million-unit small-car market.

Those cars reflect today's small-car market: far different from what it has been.