The SUV/minivan is the modern equivalent to what the station wagon used to be...ie, 7-8 passenger cars with three rows of seats. I have a modern station wagon too...a jetta sportwagen, but I can only get 5 passengers in it. The benefit is in additional cargo space.

Also, Ford is very well known for building excellent small cars. Just not in the US. Same with GM/Opel. They do not need to go from drawing board to showroom, they already have decent cars. The current Focus is one of the best small cars around in terms of both efficiency and safety. Their problem is a cost structure, not their cars.

Also, I dispute that millions of jobs will be impacted by a big three bankruptcy. Many of those jobs are related post-sale, and those will not be impacted until the millions of GM & Ford cars are off the road. Given the value that still remains in intellectual property and manufacturing capability, you won't see millions of jobs lost. At least, not in my opinion.

At any rate, I'm trying to figure out why this thread is in the commuting forum.