kevlar, you’re a loony. The manual transmissions that Ford uses in the Focus and Fusion are identical to the ones in the Mazda3 and Mazda6, both are slicker than snot on suede.
The manual transmission in the Cobalt and G5 is the same as the very German Opel Astra (Actually all of these use the same tranny: Chevrolet Cobalt, Chevrolet HHR, Saturn Vue, Saturn Ion, Opel Corsa, Opel Meriva, Opel Combo, Opel Astra, Opel Vectra, Vauxhall Corsa, Vauxhall Meriva, Vauxhall Astra, Vauxhall Vectra.)
The CTS had an ok manual sourced from Getrag, who makes most of the manuals for BMW. They’ve gone with a slicker 6 speed sourced from Aisin, which supplies transmissions for most of the Japanese makers.
Furthermore, you’ve obviously never driven a Merc or most Toyota manuals. Very heavy mechanical feel, lots of resistance, most with long throws too. Not conducive to quick shifts at all. The Toyota ones will break-in in time, but of the 4 Toyotas I’ve had, 3 got “crunchy” when doing a 2-3 shift.
You seem to insist that the NA manufacturers aren’t producing small cars, and then proceed to list off all of the Japanese (Mazda, Honda, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Suzuki and Nissan) models and Korean (Hyundai and Kia) models. Well of course 3 car companies aren’t going to offer the same number of vehicles as 8! Are you expecting them to develop individual models specifically designed to cover off each and every one of their competitor’s models?
Where specifically do you see holes in their line-ups? Toyota has everything from the Yaris to the Sequoia; GM has everything from the Aveo to the Suburban, and in several versions, the actual topic of the thread. The only segments missing from Ford and Chrysler are the B-car segments which Ford will rectify with the Fiesta, and Chrysler will likely rectify with a Mitsubishi or Hyundai rebadge.
Your blather about car sizes is intriguing as well. Have you seen the latest Camry, Avalon, Maxima or Accord? They’re within spitting distance of the dimensions of the hyper-thyroidal Chrysler 300, and bigger than a Buick Allure. The Civic now is larger than the Accord was in the late 1980s, but it is AMERICAN companies that are producing environment killing land yachts.
As I said before: 1995 called, they want their prejudices back.