[DGthe3]

If GM couldn't build efficient, globally competitive small cars, how is it that more than half their sales were comming from outside North America -allowing them to be the best selling automaker in the world for decades?

Oh well, never let facts get in the way of a good story ...

Besides, its not as if the Corolla or Civic are/were earth shatteringly awesome. They were marginally better than the Detroit offerings of the same era, in some ways, but most people more or less bought them out of reflex more than anything else: need small car ->buy Japanese. There are many reasons for that (a lot of which has to do with Chevettes & Cavaliers) but the Japanese cars, even back then, weren't as good as their reputation suggested & likewise, domestics weren't as bad.