• Wall Street Journal, Tuesday, December 8, 2009 10:43 AM

Horsepower is taking a backseat to horse sense among Ford and Chevy dealers, who are shifting gears from pitching trucks and SUVs to moving the new compact and subcompact cars being produced by Detroit, Matthew Dolan and Sharon Terlep report. Dealers are remodeling stores and going online to capture tech-savvy younger consumers who have to be weaned of their fixation on Toyota, Honda and other small-car imports.

Small cars made up 19% of light vehicles sold in the U.S. in the first 10 months of the year, while pickups and SUVs composed 46%. Three years ago, small cars represented 14% of the market while trucks and SUVs were at 53%.

GM salespeople will be taught how to discuss fuel efficiency as fluently as they can talk about towing capacities, Dolan and Terlep write, and they'll be prepared to make comparisons with competitors like Toyota and Honda. Ford is emphasizing social media sites like Facebook to connect with shoppers and hopes to lure test drivers at community events.

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