US automakers under pressure again

General Motors is still banking on big trucks and SUVs but emphasising that its newest can run mostly on ethanol.

The Chrysler Group is rolling out a few more smaller models like the Dodge Caliber, priced below $14,000. At Ford Motor, the ad pitch is largely about image that the company is making "bold moves" on fuel economy, style, and safety.

The product lines of America's homegrown automakers reveal what each thinks customers want. But if sales so far this year are any indication, they all appear to be missing the mark in this new era of $3-per-gallon gasoline.

Figures recently released show a continued slide in market share for US automakers as high fuel prices prodded shoppers to shy away from the large trucks and sport utility vehicles that have long anchored Detroit's marketing plans.

A sign of the competitive times: Toyota is outselling the Chrysler Group this year, so the Big Three in name are no longer the biggest three in sales.

"They've got a whole lot of very good cars, but 'good' just doesn't cut it," says Brett Smith, an analyst at the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan. "They've got a big challenge ahead of themselves."

Detroit's brand names still account for more than half of the cars and light trucks sold in the United States, but the erosion by foreign brands has been relentless. The reasons go beyond fuel economy. Issues like reliability, value, and comfort have also impelled the shift toward brands like Honda.

But rising gasoline prices have caught the Big Three flat-footed before, as when consumers' gas-pump anxieties opened the door to a tide of Japanese imports a quarter-century ago.

Some analysts worry that today, even after years of jousting with Asian rivals, US automakers could let that happen again.

The competitive landscape is far different today, but no less challenging.

In the early 1980s, "the domestics were really caught without products," says Tom Libby, an analyst at J.D. Power's Power Information Network. "That probably won't happen again."

First, US carmakers have a wide range of models, including small cars. GM's linchpin division, Chevrolet, is selling a lot of Cobalts alongside its big Silverado trucks. Chrysler's newly-launched Dodge Caliber is doing well. The domestic brands tend to lag behind foreign ones in fuel economy, but the gap isn't wide.

Second, if the upward jolt in gasoline prices proves to be a long-term trend, as some energy experts believe, all carmakers will be scrambling, not just the Big Three.

That's because it typically takes at least five years to launch a new car, from initial conception to showroom floor, Libby says.

The smallest of the Big Three, Chrysler is also seen as the healthiest of the bunch. It's the one that, as a unit of Germany's DaimlerChrysler, is no longer American-owned.

In today's fuel-conscious market, it can point to new offerings such as the Caliber and Dodge Nitro, a small SUV that promises to help Dodge get a piece of a hot market segment.

For all the challenges the Big Three face, consumers' taste for full-size vehicles won't evaporate overnight. "They've been doing the right things" to improve quality and design, says Kevin Wilson of AutoWeek.