Americans don't LIKE compact cars!
First off, they ain't tall enough to look down on the roofs of Japanese cars.
Second, they usually don't seat seven comfortably, especially not if you get the optional fold-down big-screen DVD player for the back-seat passengers.
Third, a sizable chunk of the American car-buying market won't consider any car with an engine smaller than five liters or less than eight cylinders to be a performance car, and we ALL know that FWD is strictly un-American 'cuz all the NASCAR and NHRA guys are RWD.
Lucky for people like us, the big three are realizing that their old customers are dying off and the new market is people like me; 25-40, performance-oriented but budget-minded, and loyal to quality, not brand-names so they have to have a GOOD car to get our money. Still, the Ford Focus, Dodge Neon, and Saturn SC2 (IMO the sportiest compact from GM) can't compare with the Skylines and RX-7s.
As long as the big three are too busy designing new trucks and SUVs, they won't bother spending much R&D money on decent compacts, so