->  TW> Well the "Detroit Mentality" helped a bit. The
thought in that day
->  TW> was that NO body is really interested in those "Little
Cars" and they
->  TW> pushed the sales of the Big Gas Hogs becasue they made more money per
->  TW> unit on them.

-> The other thing was that the Japanese used US technology to market 
-> the "correct" car 2 years earlier than the US could re-tool and 
-> bring it to market.  

 Well they had a leg up becasue Japan was basicly Small Car Country. In
fact what tyhey imported into this country in those days as a Small
Car was really Midsize to Large over there. 
 They still do by the way still produce many REAL small cars because of
the Crushing Tax Structure based on engine displacement. 
360 CC is the engine size used in their Small Cars.

Also a note of Trivia about Japanese car owners. In most cities you had
to have offstreet parking before you can even buy a car.
And they are pretty clever in the ways they got it. One scheme is a
pole with a Hoise built in. you drive your 360CC car onto it and an
electric motor raises it up off the Street. 
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